‘Wrong’ to grant immunity for killings

A CROSS-COMMUNITY group representing victims and survivors of the Troubles has warned the Prime Minister it would be “fundamentally wrong” to grant an amnesty for all killings during the conflict.

The Wave Trauma centre has written an open letter to Boris Johnson following the recent collapse of high profile legacy cases. The letter argues that dealing effectively with “complex and sensitive legacy issues” will not be done by “perverting the criminal justice system”.

Proposals, briefed to The Times newspaper in May, suggested that the Government is planning to end all prosecutions for suspected offences, whether carried out by veterans or by republican and loyalist paramilitaries.

“Those briefings have confirmed that the core motivation behind the policy is not to deal with complex legacy issues in a coherent and sensitive way, but rather to protect veterans from potential prosecution by a de facto amnesty that will include the very paramilitaries who murdered their colleagues as well as thousands of civilians,” the letter states.

“We simply cannot believe that veterans would want that to happen to the families of their fellow service men and women killed during the Troubles.

“If anyone in Downing Street or the Ministry of Defence or the

Northern Ireland Office seriously thinks that an amnesty of this nature can form the foundation upon which reconciliation could be built then it shows how little they understand the nature of the pain and trauma which continues to be suffered by victims and survivors and their families.”

It emerged on Friday that the prosecution of two former soldiers for Troubles killings, including two on Bloody Sunday, are to be halted.