McCANN AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
40
the State through an independent judicial process to which relatives must
have full access.
Together with the amici curiae, Amnesty International and British-Irish
Rights Watch and Others, they submitted that this procedural requirement
had not been satisfied by the inquest procedure because of a combination of
shortcomings. In particular, they complained that no independent police
investigation took place of any aspect of the operation leading to the
shootings; that normal scene-of-crime procedures were not followed; that
not all eyewitnesses were traced or interviewed by the police; that the
Coroner sat with a jury which was drawn from a "garrison" town with close
ties to the military; that the Coroner refused to allow the jury to be screened
to exclude members who were Crown servants; that the public interest
certificates issued by the relevant Government authorities effectively
curtailed an examination of the overall operation.
They further contended that they did not enjoy equality of representation
with the Crown in the course of the inquest proceedings and were thus
severely handicapped in their efforts to find the truth since, inter alia, they
had had no legal aid and were only represented by two lawyers; witness
statements had been made available in advance to the Crown and to the
lawyers representing the police and the soldiers but, with the exception of
ballistic and pathology reports, not to their lawyers; they did not have the
necessary resources to pay for copies of the daily transcript of the
proceedings which amounted to £500-£700.
158. The Government submitted that the inquest was an effective,
independent and public review mechanism which more than satisfied any
procedural requirement which might be read into Article 2 para. 1 (art. 2-1)
of the Convention. In particular, they maintained that it would not be
appropriate for the Court to seek to identify a single set of standards by
which all investigations into the circumstances of death should be assessed.
Moreover, it was important to distinguish between such an investigation and
civil proceedings brought to seek a remedy for an alleged violation of the
right to life. Finally, they invited the Court to reject the contention by the
intervenors British-Irish Rights Watch and Others that a violation of Article
2 para. 1 (art. 2-1) will have occurred whenever the Court finds serious
differences between the UN Principles on Extra-Legal Executions and the
investigation conducted into any particular death (see paragraph 140 above).
159. For the Commission, the inquest subjected the actions of the State to
extensive, independent and highly public scrutiny and thereby provided
sufficient procedural safeguards for the purposes of Article 2 (art. 2) of the
Convention.
160. The Court considers that it is unnecessary to decide in the present
case whether a right of access to court to bring civil proceedings in
connection with deprivation of life can be inferred from Article 2 para. 1
(art. 2-1) since this is an issue which would be more appropriately