Northern Ireland police have freed Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, after questioning him for five days about the 1972 execution of a widowed mother of 10 suspected of being a spy for the British army during the country's decades of political and religious violence.
Police on Sunday said they are sending a report of their questioning of the 65-year-old Adams to the Northern Ireland prosecutor's office. It will decide whether to charge him in the killing of Jean McConville.
Adams was a key figure in the 1998 peace settlement after 30 years of killings in Northern Ireland between Irish Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant pro-British loyalists seeking to keep Northern Ireland as part of Britain.
Over the years, former Irish Republican Army fighters have accused Adams, a member of the Irish parliament, of involvement in the campaign of killings during the sectarian clashes. He has repeatedly denied any involvement in the McConville case, but was arrested last Wednesday and held for questioning.
McConville was abducted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army from her Belfast home and shot to death. Her body was secretly buried and found decades later on a beach in the Republic of Ireland.
Historians and witnesses say Adams served as an IRA commander for decades during the conflict. Adams has always denied holding any position in the outlawed group, despite accusations from an IRA veteran who said McConville was killed on Adams' orders.
Police on Sunday said they are sending a report of their questioning of the 65-year-old Adams to the Northern Ireland prosecutor's office. It will decide whether to charge him in the killing of Jean McConville.
Adams was a key figure in the 1998 peace settlement after 30 years of killings in Northern Ireland between Irish Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant pro-British loyalists seeking to keep Northern Ireland as part of Britain.
Over the years, former Irish Republican Army fighters have accused Adams, a member of the Irish parliament, of involvement in the campaign of killings during the sectarian clashes. He has repeatedly denied any involvement in the McConville case, but was arrested last Wednesday and held for questioning.
McConville was abducted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army from her Belfast home and shot to death. Her body was secretly buried and found decades later on a beach in the Republic of Ireland.
Historians and witnesses say Adams served as an IRA commander for decades during the conflict. Adams has always denied holding any position in the outlawed group, despite accusations from an IRA veteran who said McConville was killed on Adams' orders.