Media reports that the British government is considering introducing a series of measures which amount to an amnesty for crimes committed by former soldiers or paramilitaries during the Troubles do not come as a surprise.
This government is bereft of a single ounce of honesty, decency or integrity on this issue.
Of course, they claim this is not an amnesty. But it is.
A statute of limitations on crimes committed by former security forces up until 1998 misses the point. The actions of those soldiers who broke the law were crimes, plain and simple. Wearing a uniform doesn’t give them any privileges or protections from the consequences of their actions. In fact, it raises the threshold for them to carry out their duties within the law even higher.
Murder is murder, whether the perpetrators wore balaclavas or berets.
The timing of this media leak conveniently coincided with the local government elections in England and the Tories were keen to consolidate their power behind the Red Wall. The leak was an example of the shamelessness of the government.
It’s easily forgotten that under Operation Banner, of the 306 people killed by the British army, 51 per cent of them were unarmed civilians. And 61 of those were children. Only four soldiers were ever convicted of murder in Northern Ireland and after relatively short sentences all were readmitted to the army.
So the pursuit of justice for victims families left bereaved through unlawful killings by military personnel isn’t, as claimed, a witch hunt against the 40,000-plus soldiers who served in Northern Ireland. It is simply a quest for truth and accountability from the state to punish those who believed the law did not apply to them. This is not an unreasonable expectation.
In truth, paramilitaries bear the most responsibility for the murder and mayhem in Northern Ireland. They waged a ruthless campaign without a mandate or moral basis. They too need to be held to account. The thousands of their victims families are no less entitled to justice and truth than those victims whose loved ones were murdered by the military or with the collusion of security forces. But former paramilitaries don’t have the moral fibre to make themselves accountable. And there is no process capable of delivering them to justice but the courts.
It is too easy to say draw a line under the past and let’s move on.
Those who bore the greatest loss and pain of our Troubles, the innocent, the slaughtered, the maimed and those unnecessarily bereaved have suffered enough. They have had to plead, beg and be humiliated over their compensation. The last thing they need now is our indifference.
They need even less the callous, calculated and cold blooded disregard of the state. Victims and their families are not some kind of inconvenience to be swept under the carpet for the political expediency of careerist politicians at Westminster. They are our conscience, our courage to steel us against repeating past mistakes.
Obviously, with the passing of time the chances of prosecutions are slim but also with time the changes in technology means answers may still be found. Justice can still be pursued. It would suit former protagonists, whether paramilitary or state sponsored, to have their slates wiped cleaned by a general amnesty. Easier for them to metaphorically cross the street than face the victims of Kingsmill, Ballymurphy, La Mon or Greysteel. But there is not enough whitewash in Ireland to cover the desolation and despair brought to these islands by those whose guns left an empty chair in the homes of so many.
I have never encountered a victim or family of a victim who wanted revenge or retaliation. All they have ever sought is justice. They want the guilty to be held to account and the grieving to find some form of closure. Who has the right to deny them that? Certainly not a Tory government.
