Savita Halappanavar’s husband, Praveen, has decided to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to press his demand for an independent inquiry into her death.
He said he had no faith in the two official inquiries — one set up by Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) and the other by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa).
Mr. Halappanavar’s solicitor, Gerard O’Donnell said he was identifying a team of junior and senior counsel for the action.
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“I expect to sit down with them and my client early next week to draw up papers to submit to the European court,” he told the Irish Times.
The family, he said, had received offers of support from women’s and human rights groups across the world in his quest for a public inquiry into Savita’s death.
“We have had a lot of offers from international organisations, women’s and human rights, to support us in this,” he said.
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The Irish government has not ruled out an independent inquiry but first wants the two ongoing investigations to run their course.
Mr. O’Donnell said that he had an acknowledgement from the office of Health Minister James Reilly to his letter requesting an independent probe.
“They said they were ‘looking at’ the request,” he said.
Savita (31) died on October 28 at Galway University Hospital after doctors refused abortion citing Ireland's anti-abortion law.
Her death sparked outrage across Ireland with thousands of people taking part in protests calling for changes to the abortion law and supporting her family’s demand for an independent inquiry.