The Northern Ireland Police Authority has strongly defended the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, against allegations of "indifference" made in a report by the UN Special Rapporteur, Mr Param Cumaraswamy.
Mr Pat Armstrong, the authority's chairman, yesterday said that while he "welcomed the important contribution" of the Special Rapporteur, he had "reservations about the extent to which evidence has been produced to support the report's conclusions".
"The Authority is particularly concerned by the Special Rapporteur's recent assertion that the Chief Constable has been indifferent to the United Nations and other reports on this issue. These claims are without foundation," Mr Armstrong added.
He went on to say that after questioning Sir Ronnie, he was convinced of the Chief Constable's "commitment to the most thorough and rigorous investigation of any allegation of wrongdoing by police officers".
According to Mr Armstrong the UN report contains "misleading and inaccurate comments" which "undermine Mr Cumaraswamy's conclusions on a series of very sensitive and contentious issues".
"We strongly believe that intimidation of lawyers or anyone by police officers is totally unacceptable and would encourage anyone who has evidence of such intimidation, including Mr Cumaraswamy, to use the existing complaints system to ensure it is fairly and thoroughly investigated," Mr Armstrong said.