Following a meeting with the family of Robert McCartney, the man murdered by members of the IRA in Belfast in January, two Greens/EFA MEPs today pledged their support to a campaign to bring McCartney's killers to justice. UK Green MEP for London Jean Lambert and Catalan Green Raül Romeva met Robert McCartney's sisters Catherine, Gemma and Paula in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Speaking after the meeting Jean Lambert, a member of the Parliament's Civil Liberties committee, said:

"We fully support the McCartney family's brave campaign to bring their brother's killers to justice. It is in society's best interest for justice to be served and for the barbaric murderers of Robert McCartney to be put behind bars."

"We welcome Sinn Féin's appeal today for IRA members to conclusively abandon their armed "freedom struggle", but all moves to implement a lasting peace in Northern Ireland must satisfy the McCartney family's own struggle for justice. To engage properly in the process of building peace with justice in Ireland, Sinn Féin and the IRA must stop trying to cover up the details of this murder and subverting the judicial process; a demand they often make of others."

Greens/EFA coordinator on the parliamentary sub-committee on Human Rights, Raül Romeva, added:

"The climate of fear surrounding this case has prevented witnesses to the murder from giving statements to the authorities. Every citizen of the Union has the fundamental right to life and the right to live in an area of freedom, security and justice. These rights have been denied to Robert McCartney and his family."

"We are ready to work with our colleagues in the Parliament to take every effort to obtain justice for the McCartney family. We will help them guarantee that their case receives the full attention it deserves."

[ENDS]