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The lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights is based on an amnesty law.
Bombs no longer explode in Northern Ireland. Peace has reigned in the British province since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. But the wounds of the civil war, which cost 3,500 lives, have not healed. It was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson who wanted to draw a definitive line under the bloody past by passing a law.
Forgiveness cannot be legislated
An amnesty for all perpetrators at the time. Police officers, soldiers and also paramilitaries from the Irish Liberation Army (IRA). According to the amnesty law, there should no longer be criminal trials for murders and other crimes that began during the civil war. But anyone who attended the annual “Bloody Sunday” commemoration event in Derry, Northern Ireland, would have guessed that forgiveness cannot be legislated.
Legend:
On January 30, 1972, paratroopers from a British special unit shot and killed 13 unarmed demonstrators and seriously injured 13 in the furthest corner of Northern Ireland.
Keystone/Peter Morrison
To this day, the names of the victims are read out every January in Derry city center. On January 30, 1972, paratroopers from a British special unit shot and killed 13 unarmed demonstrators and seriously injured 13 in the furthest corner of Northern Ireland.
The event significantly led to an escalation of the Northern Ireland conflict. In 2010, the then Prime Minister David Cameron asked the victims’ relatives for forgiveness, but the wounds of the massacre have not healed to this day.
British government under pressure
The affected families are demanding justice. They want the perpetrators from back then to be held accountable. They accuse the government in London of using the amnesty law primarily to protect British army veterans from legal consequences. Politically, the British government is coming under pressure from two sides. In addition to the Irish government in Dublin, all political parties in Northern Ireland also reject the law.
This is causing anger in Downing Street. Dublin’s lawsuit is regrettable, writes the conservative Daily Telegraph on Thursday. Because Ireland is acting hypocritically. After the Good Friday peace agreement, the government did little or nothing to prosecute former Irish Liberation Army IRA fighters.
And for conservative parliamentarians, Ireland’s lawsuit provides just another reason to call for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. The lawsuit also shakes up efforts to normalize the relationship between EU member Ireland and London, which has been badly damaged since Brexit.