Majority reject amnesty for those accused of offences during Troubles
Written by News on 05/07/2019
A clear majority of respondents to a public consultation on proposals for dealing with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles have rejected any suggestion of an amnesty.
Some military veterans groups had called for a statute of limitations on prosecutions to prevent former soldiers from being charged with alleged offences.
The public consultation, which took place over five months in 2018, attracted more than 17,000 responses but ultimately it will be the new prime minister who decides how to proceed.
There were four parts to the consultation document, with the draft bill outlining plans for:
- An Historical Investigations Unit, tasked with investigating 1,700 deaths from the conflict within a five-year period
- An Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, which would only seek information at the request of victims’ families
- An Oral History Archive, to be established for the purposes of collecting and recording stories from the Troubles in one place
- An Implementation and Reconciliation Group, comprising 11 members representing the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland’s five largest political parties
In its summary of responses, the government said: “A clear majority of all respondents to the consultation agreed that a statute of limitations or amnesty would not be appropriate for Troubles-related matters.
“Many were clear that victims, survivors and families are entitled to pursue criminal justice outcomes and such a move could risk progress towards reconciliation.”
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Ulster Unionist Assembly Member Doug Beattie, a former British Army Captain, said: “No one in Northern Ireland wants a statute of limitations and they certainly don’t want an amnesty and I think that’s because we still live it here in Northern Ireland.
“But sometimes, there’s a slightly different view across in the mainland where they don’t see it as something quite so close to home. It’s a bit more of a distant conflict and they don’t live it every day and they may have more of a say about wanting to protect veterans.”
Campaigners for those killed by members of the security forces during the Troubles were equally sceptical in a 39-page response to the proposals.
Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice said: “Resorting to walls of silence, closing ranks, lack of corporate memory by any of the conflict actors or relying on national security as a smothering blanket is not the way forward.”
(c) Sky News 2019: Majority reject amnesty for those accused of offences during Troubles
