West MP backs Troubles-era immunity Bill
PLYMOUTH MP Johnny Mercer has welcomed a Government Bill, introduced yesterday, designed to give immunity from prosecution to some military veterans and former terrorists accused of Troubles-era crimes in Northern Ireland.
The legislation, announced in the Queen’s Speech, could have protected ex-soldier Dennis Hutchings, who went on trial in Belfast at the age of 80 for an alleged killing in County Tyrone 40 years earlier, when he was serving in the British Army.
Mr Mercer befriended Mr Hutchings, from Cawsand in Cornwall, and attended his trial. The old soldier died while in Belfast in the course of the hearing.
Writing on Twitter yesterday, the Plymouth Moor View MP paid tribute to the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, who is piloting the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill through Parliament.
In a post alongside a picture of Mr Mercer with Mr Hutchings, the MP wrote: “Brandon deserves huge credit on this. Seldom have I given a fellow minister such a hard time. But he was big enough to reach out in January and we’ve work on it since... it’s good legislation.”
Then, alongside a broken heart symbol, Mr Mercer went on: “But of course I remember Dennis and his family.”
However, not everyone agreed with Mr Mercer’s assessment of the legislation, with some calling it a “whitewash” of Troubles-era crime that will not promote reconciliation.
Raymond McCord, a campaigner for victims whose son was killed by loyalists, described Government proposals for dealing with the past as “disgusting”.
It is understood campaigners for victims are considered mounting a legal challenge to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill.
The Government plans will see immunity offered to some, depending on their co-operation with a new independent commission for reconciliation and information recovery.
The new body aims to help individuals and family members to seek and receive information about Troubles-related deaths and serious injuries.
It is also designed to produce an historical record of what is known in relation to every death that occurred during the Troubles.
The proposals leave open the route of prosecution if individuals are not deemed to have earned their immunity.
Mr McCord said: “It’s disgusting... Brandon Lewis says it’ll bring reconciliation; I don’t want to be reconciled with the murderers of my son, and neither does anyone in my family.”
“Throwing litter in the street will be a bigger crime than mass murder... this whitewash of all these murders, to turn around and say it’ll bring reconciliation... I’m from the unionist community, I don’t need this to reconcile me with someone from the nationalist community because they are my friends. They were never my enemy.
“The proposals are unworkable and they [the Government] know it, and I will do everything in my power to stop these going through Parliament.”
The Secretary of State described the subject as a “very difficult area”, adding: “It can be very painful for people.”
However Mr Lewis insisted the current system “isn’t working for people”, and that it should not take 50 years for people to get information about the death of their loved one. He told the BBC the legislation would “give people a reason to come forward and a motivation to come forward that at the moment simply doesn’t exist”.
He said immunity would be judged by the independent body based on how people have engaged.
“That would be a matter for the independent body which will also have a judge involved in that process,” he said.
Sinn Fein’s Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill, slammed the legislation, saying it “appears to be to cover up and closes down any investigation into British state policy in Northern Ireland over the last 50 years”.
“In effect, they’re like pouring concrete over Britain’s role in the conflict,” she told the BBC.
“There should not be an amnesty for anybody, this is absolutely all about the British government trying to cover up their role in the conflict and for the record Sinn Fein has always cautioned against any proposals for a statute of limitations, and we have made that clear in all of the consultations that have happened to date.”
More than 3,500 people were killed during the Troubles, including over 1,000 members of the security forces.
Most of the deaths are attributed to republican paramilitaries, while 30% are blamed on loyalist paramilitaries, and 10% attributed to the security forces.
‘In effect, they’re like pouring concrete over Britain’s role in the conflict’ MICHELLE O’NEILL, SINN FEIN