Family to tell Adams of 'IRA murder trial threats'
Gerry Adams will face demands for alleged IRA threats against a murder victim’s family to be lifted during talks in Belfast this week.
Relatives of Jimmy McGinley will also urge the Sinn Féin President to use any influence he has to get the man convicted of his manslaughter expelled from the Provisionals.
Derry man Bart Fisher, 43, was sentenced to three years in jail in February over the killing.
Mr McGinley, 23, was stabbed through the heart during a fight in the city in October 2003.
Even though Fisher has denied being in the IRA, the dead man’s family refuse to believe him.
They allege that members of the paramilitary organisation intimidated them throughout his trial.
The victim’s mother Eileen today disclosed she is to meet Mr Adams at his west Belfast offices on Tuesday.
Mrs McGinley will be accompanied by her son Eugene and her sister Kathleen, who she claims were summoned by the IRA to clandestine meetings during the trial to be told which family members could attend the court hearings.
Despite Sinn Féin insisting this did not happen, she said: “I want Mr Adams to hear from Eugene and Kathleen themselves what happened.
“He’ll be told the names of the men who were at the meetings and he’ll be told where they took place.
“My family are not lying. These meetings did take place.”
The McGinleys’ demands have piled new pressure on republicans as they attempt to regroup from the Robert McCartney murder case.
Mr McCartney’s sisters have pledged to continue their campaign until the IRA men blamed for battering the father-of-two to death outside a Belfast bar are brought to justice.
After Fisher was sentenced he issued a statement confirming he was an Irish republican but denying any links with the Provos.
Yet his victim’s family remain unconvinced.
Mrs McGinley added: “I want the IRA in Derry to apologise for treating us like this.
“We’re a grieving family and they’ve no right doing this to us.
“I want them to state whether or not they consider my Jimmy’s killing to be a crime and I want Bart Fisher expelled from the IRA.
“I want the IRA to leave us alone to get on with rebuilding our family.”
A Sinn Féin spokesman said Mr Adams had always declared his willingness to meet with the McGinleys.
He would not be drawn on Fisher’s status, other than to point out his denial of membership.
The spokesman added: “You can’t go around publicly speculating about who’s in the IRA and who’s not. I don’t know.”
