The Irish Government has initiated legal proceedings against the United Kingdom Executive in protest at the guarantee of amnesty to veterans of the security forces and paramilitary groups allegedly responsible for blood crimes and deadly attacks during the three decades of sectarian violence in Ireland. North.
“I regret to see us in a position where it has been necessary to make this decision,” said Micheál Martin, deputy prime minister and former head of the shared government between the two main parties of the Republic of Ireland, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.
Dublin has decided to appeal the Northern Ireland Legacy and Reconciliation law, initiated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021, in order to “put a limit” on investigations into the unsolved deaths of the so-called ‘Troubles’, the violent era from 1969 to 1989. The legislation came into force last September and includes, among its most controversial measures, the granting of criminal immunity for past crimes to those who collaborate in recovering the truth.
Martin justified the appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in the “unilateral” action of the British conservative government. Johnson and his successors in Downing Street have abandoned initiatives previously agreed by the Northern Ireland parties and both governments to deal with the deadly toll of terrorism. All the majority political forces in the province, in addition to the Executive and the Irish parliamentary opposition and international organizations, oppose the law.
“The British Government withdrew the political option and has only left us this legal avenue,” added the Foreign Minister about the extraordinary interstate lawsuit sent to the Strasbourg court.
The Dublin Executive considers that the controversial Historical Legacy law is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees access to Justice for victims of terrorism.
The legislation also shelves civil and forensic processes that are being reviewed or were pending to be formally opened regarding the almost a thousand murders still to be clarified of the more than 3,500 civilians who lost their lives due to the sectarian conflict and the IRA’s war against the British state.
The new legal framework includes the creation of an Independent Commission for Information Recovery and Reconciliation, which has the authority to collect testimonies from alleged repentants, but begins its trajectory without the force of the police service that supports the historical investigations opened in recent years. Two decades.
The new system angers victims from both communities. They feel that the Government is denying them recourse to Justice to protect soldiers who served in Northern Ireland or to prevent former IRA activists from being held accountable for their crimes.
