LAST UPDATE | 28 Feb

PROVISIONS FOR CONDITIONAL immunity from prosecution for Troubles offences in the UK government’s Legacy Act are not compatible with human rights legislation, a judge has ruled.

Delivering a judgment at Belfast High Court, Justice Adrian Colton said there was no evidence the immunity provision would in any way contribute to reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

The Legacy Act received royal assent in September despite widespread opposition from political parties, victims’ organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.

Aspects of the laws include a limited form of immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences for those who co-operate with the new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

The new Act will also halt future civil cases and legacy inquests.

A number of Troubles victims had taken the legal action challenging the human rights compliance of the Government’s Act.

Justice Colton told the court: “I am satisfied that the immunity from prosecution provisions under section 19 of the Act are in breach of the lead applicant’s rights pursuant to Article 2 of the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights).

“I am also satisfied they are in breach of Article 3 of the ECHR.”

He added: “There is no evidence that the granting of immunity under the Act will in any way contribute to reconciliation in Northern Ireland, indeed the evidence is to the contrary.”

The judge is continuing to deliver his judgment.

Multiple victims launched the judicial review proceedings against the Act. Martina Dillon, John McEvoy and Lynda McManus were selected as the lead cases in the legal battle at the High Court in Belfast.

Martina Dillon’s 45-year-old husband, Seamus, was shot dead in a loyalist attack at the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, County Tyrone, in 1997.

John McEvoy survived a loyalist shooting on the Thierafurth Inn in Kilcoo, County Down, in 1992.

Lynda McManus’s father, James, was among those wounded in the Sean Graham bookmakers massacre in 1992.

When the case was heard last year, a barrister said the Act was subjecting victims to a form of “secondary trauma”.

The SDLP welcomed the ruling today, saying that the British Government had put the interests of soldiers and paramilitaries above the needs of victims and survivors.

MP Colum Eastwood said the decision marked “an important moment for victims and survivors who have been resolutely opposed to the approach taken by the British Government”. 

“No political party in Northern Ireland supports the British Government’s attempt to shut down truth, justice and accountability for victims and survivors,” he said.

Separately, the Irish Government has launched an interstate legal case against the Legacy Act, arguing that it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.