The sisters of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney today revealed they are planning to take a civil action against the people they believe to be responsible for their brother's killing.
They were in Brussels today where they met the President of the European Commission, Mr Jose Manuel Barroso, and revealed they were hoping to raise £250,000 to finance the action.
"Time is of the essence. We need to get it off the ground very quickly," Paula McCartney said.
The also met MEPs where Gemma McCartney told Socialist MEPs that despite Sinn Fein urging witnesses to the alleged IRA murder to come forward, "we are now coming up against a blank wall."
She said PSNI efforts and the intervention of the police ombudsman had produced no results and there was "no sign of a breakthrough", Catherine McCartney said.
She reiterated that their campaign was not political and instead about human rights. "We feel that the more people who support this campaign on a global scale will highlight that this is a justice issue," she said.
Mr Barroso said he admired the sisters' "courage, dignity and quest for truth and for justice" but stressed the Commission could not intervene in the a member state's police investigation.
European Parliament President Josep Borrell would hold talks with MEP's tomorrow after the Mr McCartney 's today.
He said the family had the full support of the European Parliament. "The doors of the European Parliament will always be open to those who need a public tribune to fight any kind of injustice," he said.
Mr McCartney (33) was stabbed to death after a row in a bar in Belfast city centre on January 30th. The crime scene was cleared up by alleged witnesses who departed before police arrived.
Agencies