“We echo the concerns of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, who today called on the UK government to establish judicial commissions of inquiry into the murders of human rights lawyers Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.  The Special Rapporteur’s recommendation is especially timely in the Finucane case - recent news reports indicate that the prosecution of William Stobie, who was charged in connection with the murder, may collapse following the withdrawal of a key witness.  This latest obstacle is only one in a series of failures in the three criminal investigations into the Finucane murder, which have been dragging on for many years.  The UK government has stated that it will not consider establishing an independent inquiry into the murder until all criminal prosecutions in the case are completed.  We believe that this latest development demonstrates that an independent inquiry must be immediately established: all evidence available must be brought forward, and the truth must not depend on the cooperation of one or two witnesses.  As the Special Rapporteur today emphasized, a public inquiry is the only acceptable way to end impunity in this horrible murder.”