Marking the fifteenth anniversary of the loyalist murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, the Sinn Féin leader has called on the British government to publish the Cory Report into collusion and to act on its recommendations.
Mr Finucane was murdered in his home by the UDA on the February 12th, 1989. He had successfully challenged the British government over several important human rights cases and it has long been contended that elements within British army and RUC intelligence were happy that the UDA should target the 38-year-old solicitor, and may have played a sinister role in his killing.
Judge Peter Cory was appointed to assess whether the murders of Mr Finucane, Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy Wright warranted independent inquiries.
He put the British government under intense pressure to publish his report after it was revealed that he told victims' relatives he had recommended public inquiries into the four murders where security forces collusion has been alleged.
The widow of the murdered solicitor, Mrs Geraldine Finucane, lodged papers in court last month challenging the British government's refusal to publish the Cory report on his death.
Speaking from Australia were he is on a week-long tour, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams accused the British government of "hiding behind the Cory Report for three years and now hiding behind the consequences of it".
He said: " Pat Finucane was murdered as a result of Britain's very deliberate policy of state sanctioned murder. His family have refused to accept the lies and the barriers constructed by the British state in the years since his murder.
"The demand for a full public, judicial inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane is undeniable. The British government hid behind the work of Judge Cory for three years in resisting this demand and now they are hiding behind the consequences of it. The British government need to publish the Cory Report and act upon its recommendations.
"Tony Blair cannot continue to stall. He cannot continue to protect those within the British system who developed the policy of collusion and who are still actively engaged in cover-up and concealment."
