Flashpoints during the Troubles included Bloody Sunday 1972. Photo: William L. Rukeyser/Getty Images
The British government vowed Wednesday to fight Ireland over its “misguided” legal challenge to a key British law that grants immunity to hundreds of soldiers involved in the riots.
In an attack on Dublin's leadership, Britain said it «deeply regrets» the decision. taken by Ireland to try to overturn the Westminster legislation in the European Court of Human Rights.
Military veterans, along with senior Tory MPs, joined the chorus of outrage, accusing the Irish of interfering in British politics in an attempt to overturn the UK's action. statute.
In an almost unprecedented legal challenge, Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, insisted that he had “no choice” but to pursue an inter-State case brought to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The only time Ireland took this legal route was over 50 years ago, in 1971.
Mr Varadkar said he brought the case «with a sense of regret»; Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
The lawsuit has plunged London and Dublin into a bitter diplomatic row, while threatening to expose hundreds of former soldiers to historic persecution.
Senior Whitehall sources have accused Ireland of gross hypocrisy, saying the UK is trying to cut back on legal action by saying Dublin has failed to bring a single prosecution for serious offenses committed during the riots since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.< /p>
One senior government source said: “Ireland needs to back down. The Irish Government, Sinn Féin and Joe Biden are cut from the same cloth. But we are not going to go down because of this. We are confident that we will win.”
Ireland's decision also led to renewed calls from the right-wing Conservative Party for the UK government to reconsider its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, a move that Rishi Sunak is trying to prevent from trying to push through his Rwanda bill.
Ireland — with Mr Biden's blessing — has launched legal action seeking to overturn the Northern Ireland Riots Act, which effectively prevents soldiers as well as paramilitaries on both sides from being prosecuted for serious crimes. The legislation promised in the Tory manifesto grants amnesty to all suspects provided they take part in the work of the Independent Reconciliation and Information Commission.
In a statement released on Wednesday evening, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland minister, said: “The UK Government deeply regrets the Irish Government's decision today to bring this unnecessary case against the UK.”
< p>He said the decision was particularly ill-considered because «it comes at a particularly sensitive time in Northern Ireland», while British courts were already deciding whether the act breached human rights laws.
G Mr Heaton-Harris added: “The UK Government has urged the Irish Government to engage directly with the commission before considering measures… It is deeply regrettable that it has chosen not to do so.”
In a personal attack, he also questioned Irish Deputy Prime Minister Michel Martin's insistence that riot victims should seek justice in the courts.
Mr Heaton-Harris said: “They were critical of our proposed approach on the grounds that it moved away from prosecution. We believe that the Irish Government's stated position on dealing with heritage issues is inconsistent and difficult to reconcile with its own experience.»
He said Ireland had not made a «concerted or sustained attempt» to carry out its own criminal investigations and called on Dublin to «urgently clarify the number of criminal prosecutions brought in Ireland since 1998» when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. He said the UK government would “continue to vigorously defend the law” and accused the Irish authorities of “misguided actions”.
Mark Francois, chairman of the ERG group of Tory MPs who also campaigned for the Veterans Protection Act, said: “Who really runs this damn country? A democratically elected government drawn from parliament, or an unelected, unaccountable foreign court?
“This legislation, which took many years of campaigning to achieve and was then exhaustively debated for about a year between both houses, cannot be allowed to then be overturned by appeal to an activist foreign court. If so, it should be a real issue in the coming general election.»
Foreign court 'interfering'
Jonathan Gallis, a former Conservative minister, said: «It would be completely wrong for the ECtHR to interfere in in any case with this legislation. I hope it will be rejected immediately. If not, then this only proves why we, the UK, must withdraw from the ECHR to stop foreign courts interfering with our laws.”
Sir Geoffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP, which like Sinn Fein and other major political parties in Northern Ireland opposes any amnesty for Troubles murderers, called the government's announcement «extraordinarily strong».
He said it was » exposes the double standards of the Irish government, which itself has been administering a de facto amnesty for many years and has failed to implement any meaningful probate process to deal with murders committed in their jurisdiction.»
“These include Garda, Irish Army and prison officers killed in cold blood, as well as innocent victims killed by the IRA as they used the Southern Territory to attack Northern Ireland,” Sir Geoffrey added on social media.
Hundreds of former British soldiers and police could face trial for historic crimes including murder if the Riot Act is repealed. The law also provides an effective amnesty for paramilitaries, and Whitehall sources say few, if any, will be prosecuted due to a lack of evidence. However, military and police records leave British soldiers and police officers vulnerable to prosecution, despite some of the alleged offenses dating back more than half a century.
One is a former RUC officer who has been investigated five times. once over the shooting of an IRA commander in 1991, said he feared a new investigation if the European Court sided with Dublin.
The officer, now in his 60s, said: “I lived in complete obscurity and was quite happy, but in the last few years, after new investigations, it has really affected my emotional and mental health. I didn't do anything wrong. This act put an end to new investigations, but now I am deeply concerned that they may begin again.»
General Lord Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, said: “This Heritage Bill was passed by the authority of the Westminster Parliament and applies to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and enactment of the legislation is a matter of our government. I am fully aware that the Irish Government and the US Government do not like this. We can listen to their concerns, but it is not for them to bring an application against the UK government to the ECHR.”
The law came amid criticism following high-profile trials of British veterans aged 70 and 80 who were taken to court in Belfast. It also ended a series of investigations into historical deaths.
But Mr Varadkar said his government was left with «no choice» but to pursue a multi-state legal case. He said the «strong» legal conclusion was that the UK Heritage Act breached the UN Human Rights Convention.
A number of riot victims are supporting a separate legal challenge at the High Court in Belfast.
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Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Varadkar said: «We sincerely regret this and would have preferred not to be in this position, but we have a commitment to the survivors in Northern Ireland and the families of the victims.» victims that we will support them, respect their wishes, and respect the Good Friday Agreement, which specifically refers to the European Convention on Human Rights.»
He added: «The UK Government took this decision for its own reasons . , and they, of course, have the right to do this, to go a different way… But we do not agree with this.”
Dublin objects to amnesty provisions that grant immunity, and also argues that the law does not contain provisions for cross-border resolution of all-Ireland cases.
The ECHR establishes the right to life and prohibitions. torture requires member states to investigate deaths and serious harm that are independent, effective, subject to public scrutiny and involve the next of kin.
Banning trials and investigations could put the UK at risk of non-compliance with Articles 6 and 14 of the convention , which cover the right of access to a court and the right to an effective remedy.
Mr Biden offered his support to Dublin in the dispute over the Heritage Act before Ireland launched its challenge. The US President discussed this issue with Mr Varadkar in September at a meeting within the UN General Assembly.
“I told him that at the moment we do not have a specific request, but we are very pleased that he continues keep up to date with Ireland's problems,” Mr Varadkar said at the time.
Families of the victims praised the Irish government on Wednesday for «giving them new hope» by challenging the law.
Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother Stephen died after being hit in the head by a plastic bullet when he played near his home in the Bogside area of Londonderry, said: “The government is trampling on the needs of victims, they are being ignored and the only beneficiaries of this law are the perpetrators.”
“So to see the Irish government finally acting on what it has proposed is a relief. We're glad it's happening, but it will be several months of litigation in Europe, which is several months longer than the families of some of the victims will have — we're not getting any younger — and we have to assume that the British government will fight this iso to the best of our ability, as always when it comes to the needs of the victims.”
Persecution means the former soldier has “no peace.”
Robert Mendick
The former RUC officer, now in his 60s, said he now fears a reinvestigation if the European Court of Human Rights overturns the British law.
The officer, who cannot be named, shot dead the IRA member in April 1991 year in Downpatrick. He was investigated several times (he estimates five times) and was told as recently as May this year that no charges would be brought against him.
Northern Ireland prosecutors said there was no evidence not enough. «to ensure a reasonable prospect of conviction.» The decision is being contested by the family of Colum Marks, who was 29 years old at the time of his death.
The Northern Ireland Riots Act, which became law in September, would give an RUC officer the peace of mind that the case against him is closed forever — provided he cooperates with a new reconciliation commission set up to replace criminal investigations.
< p>The officer said: “This legal action by the Irish government has opened another can of worms and caused me even more grief. I'm not looking for a form of immunity. I want the commission to acquit me, because I didn’t kill anyone and didn’t go out to kill anyone.
“But now I have no peace, and I don’t sleep well.”< /p>
He agrees to shoot at Marks, but says he did it in self-defense, shouting and firing warning shots. He said Marks was armed with a Mk12 mortar, an improvised weapon used by the IRA against armored vehicles.
The RUC had intelligence that the IRA were planning an attack on the patrol and were lying in ambush with a mortar. the bomb was planted near a busy road.
Michael Agnew, deputy director of public prosecutions in Northern Ireland, said in May: “The officer said Mr Marks ran towards him and did not stop when warned. He believed Marks was armed and claimed he feared for his life when he made the split-second decision to open fire.”
The shooting was investigated in 1991 and the case was solved. reopened in 2016. The retired officer said his life had become a nightmare following a series of investigations over the past seven years.
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