The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has warned that the inability of the proposed Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) to investigate the tens of thousands of Troubles related injuries is a major flaw.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“The Ulster Unionist Party Assembly Group has a number of concerns about the proposed Historical Investigations Unit. One of the many weaknesses is the fact that it will focus solely on Troubles related deaths.
“According to the PSNI’s own statistics, between 1969 and 1998, there were 35,000 shootings, 15,000 bombings and more than 3,200 deaths reported to the RUC. There are also over 40,000 reported victims of the Troubles.
“If the HIU is only to focus on fatalities, then that is a slap in the face for the tens of thousands of victims who were injured. And let us not forget, the 15,000 bombings were entirely the work of terrorists, so to say that the HIU is not looking into the thousands of bombings where nobody died, is to give a free pass to thousands of terrorist acts.
“In terms of the 3,200 Troubles related deaths, we know that 90 per cent were caused by terrorist action, 10 per cent by the Police and Army. In terms of the 40,000 injuries, I would be very interested to know what percentage is attributable to terrorist action, because I strongly suspect it would be well above the 90 per cent of deaths.
“It is a truly perverse justice system that says it will investigate past murders, but has no interest in attempted murders. But that sadly, is the system that the HIU will bring in.”