New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ordered a thorough prosecution into the Christchurch mosque attacks that claimed 50 worshipers, including women and children.
According to Ardern, who soon after denounced the attack as a terrorist act, royal commission would examine whether police and country’s intelligence could have done more to prevent the 15 March tragic event.
Royal commission is the highest level of independent inquiry available under New Zealand law, as well as active in United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
The commission would produce a “comprehensive” report on the case, Ardern said.
“It is important that no stone is left unturned to get to how this act of terrorism occurred and how we could have stopped it,” she told reporters in Wellington on Monday, as BBC quoted.
“One question we need to answer is whether or not we could or should have known more,” she added.
Ardern further added that the formal inquiry would also scrutinize the questions concerning the accessibility of semi-automatic weapons and the role of social media played in the attack.
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Australian Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old self-proclaimed white supremacist, has been charged with one murder in connection with the shootings and is expected to face further charges.
The New Zealand leader took decisive gun reform action in the wake of the attacks, announcing within a week reforms that ban all types of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.
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