Belfast court rules part of government’s Legacy Act breaches human rights

The High Court in Belfast has ruled that part of the British government’s controversial Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act is in breach of European human rights legislation.

The judge, Mr Justice Colton, said he was satisfied that the provisions of the act that offer immunity from Troubles-era prosecutions breached Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The judged added that there was “no evidence that granting immunity under the act would in any way contribute to reconciliation in Northern Ireland”, and the “evidence is to the contrary”.

However, the judge also ruled that new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) set up by the act was capable of making effective investigations and was not in breach of human rights law.

Mr Justice Colton told Belfast High Court: “I fully understand the opposition to the new scheme and the reasons for it.

“That said, I cannot at this remove say the system established under the Act cannot provide an article 2 and 3 compliant investigation.

“It has wide powers and wide range of discretion to carry out its reviews. Should it fall short of its obligations on articles 2 and 3, I have no doubt they will be subject to the scrutiny of the court.”

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A legal challenge was mounted by a number of victims’ relatives against the act, which aims to end Troubles-related prosecutions and brings in a conditional amnesty for suspects, provided they cooperate with the ICRIR.

Four people had challenged the human rights compliance of the act, including its denial of inquests, lack of adequate investigations and ban on civil proceedings.

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

John McEvoy survived another loyalist gun attack in Kilcoo, Co Down in 1992, in which another man died.

Lynda McManus’s father James was injured in the notorious Sean Graham bookies massacre, also in 1992. That was carried out by the loyalist UDA group.

Brigid Hughes lost her husband Anthony, an innocent civilian who was killed by the SAS as they shot dead eight IRA members in Loughgall in 1987.

Lawyers expect appeals in the case, which could be brought all the way to the Supreme Court and could take several years to exhaust.

Ireland correspondent

3,500 people died in a bloody period of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland from around 1968 to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, in what was known as The Troubles.

The British government’s Legacy Act, or to give it its full title, the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, came into effect in September 2023. It was opposed by all the parties in Northern Ireland, as well as the Irish government. It will end future litigation and inquests into Troubles-era deaths, in what London says is an effort to draw a line under the violence of the past.

Conditional amnesty will instead be offered to those who reveal information about the incidents to a new truth recovery body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

But many in Northern Ireland say the denial of future prosecutions is a breach of human rights, which the British government refutes.

In December, Ireland announced that it was taking legal action against the UK in the European Court of Human Rights, for only the second time in 50 years. The Irish government said it had received legal advice that the new UK law was in breach of international human rights legislation, and the move was being taken “with regret”.

It has severely strained Anglo-Irish diplomatic relations, which may improve if a Labour government is elected at the next election. Party leader Keir Starmer has vowed to repeal the controversial legislation.

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