world mirror
By law, the British government is stopping almost all proceedings in the Northern Ireland conflict. This triggers horror among survivors on both sides – and the suspicion that successful investigations were the deciding factor.
On a remote, narrow dirt road not far from Belfast, Raymond McCord slowly walks up a small hill. To his right is a stone wall. A larger crevice provides a view of a field that was once a rockfall. “They kidnapped my son here and killed him. They beat him with stones until he was no longer alive.”
According to official information, pro-British paramilitaries murdered Raymond McCord’s son shortly before the end of the bloody conflict in Northern Ireland. They apparently thought he was a traitor from their own circle who could provide information to the police. The perpetrators were never brought to justice.
No peace – as long as there is no justice
McCord has been fighting for justice for 26 years since the crime. Without it, he says, he can’t find peace. McCord rarely goes to the site where his son was executed, but on this day in October he feels compelled to do so. The wounds are open again.
The British government has just passed a law that will end almost all unfinished investigations and ongoing proceedings in connection with the Northern Ireland conflict. Instead, a commission is being founded to keep the legacy of the bloody conflict alive and to collect information about the atrocities – but without criminal relevance. The law goes so far as to grant criminals immunity and impunity, they provide the commission with valuable information. They cannot burden themselves with this. In return, they effectively receive amnesty.
For McCord, the law causes despair. It means his son’s case is going into the filing cabinet. The perpetrators he knows and who continue to live in the area are getting away scot-free, he says.
Many unexplained deaths
In the Northern Ireland conflict, Catholic, pro-Irish paramilitaries, above all the IRA, fought for the separation of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and for reunification with the Republic of Ireland. Protestant, pro-British paramilitaries resisted. For three decades, attacks, murders and conflicts involving gun violence shaped everyday life in the British provinces. The military should ensure order. 3,500 people lost their lives. 60 percent went to pro-Irish terrorists, 30 percent to pro-British terrorists and ten percent to the military.
As with Bloody Sunday, innocent people were also among the victims of military operations. The police are still processing 1,000 unsolved cases committed by various parties and will now close most of them. The government justifies its law with the low prospect of convictions.
Better to draw a line in the sand?
As a result of the peace agreement, thousands of perpetrators were released from prison. Now, 40, sometimes 50 years later, it is difficult to provide evidence in the many other cases, they say. Then it’s better to draw a line in the sand, that’s how the government sees it. At the party conference of the ruling Conservative Party, Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris made no secret of the fact that the government was actually concerned with something else: protecting the British soldiers deployed at the time and current veterans.
Kieran McEnvoy, who has been scientifically following the handling of crimes in connection with the Northern Ireland conflict at the University of Belfast for years, also sees this as the actual reason for the amnesty law. McEnvoy counters the low prospect of convictions: “On the contrary, the justice system has recently worked effectively.”
In fact, there have also been convictions of members of the military in the recent past. This, says McEnvoy, has become a problem for the government. She was worried that well-run investigations could also reveal unpleasant truths. This refers to the involvement of the military in deaths that could be criminally relevant.
Only the veterans welcomed the law – all parties in Northern Ireland and the relatives of the victims on both sides are against it.
Northern Ireland parties against the amnesty law
Protecting veterans is a Tories election promise. However, no one in Northern Ireland wants the amnesty law; with the exception of the veterans themselves. Relatives of victims have taken to the streets against the law – from both sides of the communities, some of which are still hostile. All parties in Northern Ireland have opposed it, including the church. The British central government ignored this.
John Finucane is a lawyer in Belfast and also a politician from the Sinn Fein party, which primarily represents the Irish communities in Northern Ireland. His father was killed by British paramilitaries and the family was not granted a public inquiry into the execution. Finucane believes the law is a violation of human rights: “There is a fundamental right to investigate. This fundamental right cannot be undermined by a law,” he says.
Finucane, like other victim families, has appealed to the High Court to review the law. Experts are already of the opinion that the amnesty is a violation of the human rights convention. Raymond McCord is also part of the group that wants to overturn the law. He says he needs a day in court with his son’s murderers in the dock. Without that, he would not be able to draw a line in the sand, as the government wanted.
You can see these and other reports in Weltspiegel – on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on Erste.