No to Troubles amnesty

A protest was held at Free Derry Corner last Saturday over British government plans to bring in a Troubles “amnesty”.

Britain’s crimes in Northern Ireland covered up

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This legislation would end the possibility of prosecutions in relation to Troubles-related offences committed before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The “amnesty” would apply to all members of the security forces and paramilitaries.

The proposal has been condemned by every political party in Northern Ireland and many families of those killed during the Troubles. Families of the ten people killed by soldiers in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in 1971 said the government’s plan was a “cynical attempt to bring an amnesty and a plan to bury its war crimes”.

Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was killed on Bloody Sunday, was at the protest in Derry. He said the British government was trying to bring in the new legislation because they were frightened the truth would be exposed.

“The only way if we are ever to get the full truth, because we know the truth from our side, is the exposing of the military and the security personnel and the only way you are ever going to get that is if you bring them to prosecution,” he said.

People Before Profit’s Eamonn McCann said, “Make no mistake about it that this will be the end of the legal route, the legal remedy for Bloody Sunday. I think we should all speak with one voice now and say to the British authorities,no, we are not moving on.”