The brutal murder of human rights solicitor, wife and mother of three Rosemary Nelson by pro-British elements in Lurgan, County Armagh, on the 15th of March was both callous in its execution and clinical in its purpose.

Rosemary Nelson was not murdered by a rag-taggle band of loyalist dissidents hell-bent on bringing down the Agreement - to believe that is to pander to the media and it does a great disservice to the memory of Rosemary Nelson and the human rights campaigns she advocated.

There is little doubt that Rosemary Nelson was murdered to silence her and the ordinary people she represented.

There is also no doubt that her death was ordered, planned and executed by elements of the British establishment, the RUC and loyalists.

Pat Finucane

Rosemary Nelson's murder has also highlighted the case of the UFF murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989 in north Belfast.

The similarities in the two murders are stark.

Both solicitors were involved in high profile human rights cases. Both lawyers highlighted cases of British security force collusion in the murders of a number of nationalists.

Both lawyers received death threats from the RUC shortly before they were murdered.

RUC inquiry

Feeble attempts by the RUC and British government to limit any real and independent investigation into Rosemary's murder by appointing a British police chief-constable to oversee the investigation alongside some role for the FBI is a blatant attempt at a cover-up. This adds insult to injury, not only for Rosemary Nelson's family but also to the entire nationalist community.

Independent

The IRSP support the calls of Rosemary Nelson's family for a fully-independent international investigation into her murder. There can be no place for the discredited RUC in that investigation - the RUC are after all one of the main suspects in her murder.

Any investigation which has the RUC at its helm will be fatally flawed and unacceptable to not only the nationalist working class community but also to a wide range of international human rights groups.

Legacy

The human rights legacy that Rosemary Nelson has left behind is a beacon light for the oppressed, abused and maligned communities in the six counties. If her murderers hoped to silence her, they have failed.