Relatives of Joseph Rafferty (29), who was shot dead outside his home in Dublin in April, today met with the sisters and fiancée of Belfast murder victim Robert McCartney.
Speaking after the meeting in Belfast's Short Strand District, Esther Rafferty, a sister of Joseph, claimed republicans had murdered and intimidated in each case.
She said: "What happened to Robert is a carbon copy of what happened with Joseph."
Ms Rafferty and her sister Sandra travelled to Belfast amid claims of an intensifying campaign of intimidation by IRA men against the McCartney family.
The McCartneys, who have been promised a meeting with Taoiseach to discuss their case, say they need more witnesses to come forward to help the detectives attempting to hunt down the murderer.
The Rafferty family has received backing for their campaign from the McCartney family. Catherine McCartney said: "We support the Rafferty family 100 per cent. . . . The incidents around Joseph's death are very similar to our own and anyone [who] seeks justice we will support."
She added: "We are talking about the murder of two men. We are not a political party, we are just ordinary people fighting for justice. For our two cases murder is murder and can only be sorted by the rule of law."
Mr McCartney died after he was stabbed and beaten outside Magennis's Bar in Belfast city centre on January 30th.
PA