Westminster edges closer towards unilateral amnesty

Posted by Jim on January 27, 2018

A British MP has warned that new recruits could be deterred from joining
the British Army because of the possibility of prosecution for war
crimes.

Ruth Smeeth made the claim when she spoke in favour of an amnesty for
British soldiers who were responsible for killing civilians in Ireland.
The MP for Stoke said: “Our brave service personnel were acting under
orders; we asked them to do many things for us; we need to have their
backs.”

The concept of an amnesty has gained support among Westminster
backbenchers, who have depicted prosecutions of former British soldiers
are a “witch-hunt”.

An amnesty bill, if passed, would effectively close off investigations
into how British forces carried out state killings and colluded in
state-sanctioned attacks through unionist death squads.

Among those present for the debate were relatives of 10 people killed by
soldiers in the Ballymurphy massacre.

John Teggart, who lost his father, said the discussion had been “one
sided”.

“You can’t debate an issue when they are all singing off the same hymn
sheet,” he said. “I am not happy; the voice of victims was left sitting
in the public gallery.”

Sinn Fein’s Chris Hazzard accompanied the victims’ families to London.
He said: “There must be no immunity for people who have killed Irish
citizens. A fundamental democratic principle is equality under the law,
and this proposal runs entirely contrary to that.”

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly was also adamant that an amnesty for British
soldiers cannot be part of any resolution on dealing with the legacy of
the conflict.

“Everyone needs to be equal under the law, and there can be no immunity
for people who have killed Irish citizens,” he said.

“That is a basic principle and the DUP were adamant during negotiations
that there should be no amnesties, despite the fact that two of their
MPs have decided to support the statute of limitations.

“The way forward on legacy is not through self-serving and selective
amnesties. It is in the implementation of the mechanisms of the Stormont
House Agreement.

“In that agreement, all parties endorsed legacy mechanisms which should
have been operational long before now.

“The reason they aren’t is because they have been blocked by the British
government which is still refusing to honour its commitments under the
Stormont House Agreement and to abide by their international obligations
to victims.”

In a statement, Amnesty International called for the government to
reject any moves to legislate for a statute of limitations.

Grainne Teggart, the charity’s campaigns manager, said: “All victims of
human rights violations and abuses from Northern Ireland’s conflict have
a right to an independent investigation, with the possibility of
prosecutions to follow where the evidence leads.

“This is true, whatever the identity of the victim and whatever the
identity of the perpetrator. To remove this recourse would be a betrayal
of victims’ fundamental right to justice.”