Ulster Unionist Party Justice Spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, has expressed his concerns that Government proposals to prevent the prosecutions of veterans may be little more than a cynical bid to win votes from the Veterans and Armed Forces community, and could end up paving the way to an Amnesty which will benefit terrorists.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“Many people will question the sincerity behind the Government’s indication that it will ‘consider’ legislation to protect military veterans from prosecutions.
“I fear that the fact this announcement was made on Remembrance weekend at the start of a General Election campaign, is a clear signal that it is a ploy to gain votes from the Veterans and Armed Forces community in England, Scotland and Wales. It should not be forgotten that the Government has already failed to deliver on a pledge to introduce similar legislation in the Queen’s Speech.
“The Ulster Unionist Party has two main concerns. Firstly, if such legislation were to be used to prevent former soldiers from being prosecuted, it could lead to case law that would inevitably be seized upon by those who would seek to apply it equally to terrorist suspects, and thereby lead to a de facto amnesty for terrorists.
“Secondly, this legislation makes no mention of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). If the Government really wants to help prevent vexatious claims it should state clearly that the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) - agreed by the DUP and Sinn Fein as part of the Stormont House Agreement – will never see the light of day.
“The Ulster Unionist Party remains deeply concerned that the HIU would not only be a parallel police force which would trawl State archives, scrutinising the actions of police officers during the Troubles, whilst of course being unable to open up any equivalent records held by the terrorists responsible for 90 per cent of deaths during the Troubles. It will also ignore the context of the times, the actions of those who directed terrorism, as well as those murders committed outside Northern Ireland, including Robert Nairac GC.
“Furthermore, the proposed charge of ‘non-criminal police misconduct’ is clearly designed to target the RUC and PSNI with a vengeance, in a bid to re-write history. This includes attacking the memory of deceased officers, some of whom were murdered by republican terrorists, whose cheerleaders have now helped create this perverse investigatory mechanism. All the while those who lost limbs, or who were blinded, burned or psychologically damaged by a savage IRA bombing campaign, will have no investigations.
“It is clear to the Ulster Unionist Party that yet again, the victims are the ones who will suffer in this process. They will receive neither truth nor justice or indeed any form of accountability from those who destroyed their lives. They were victims once, not for being in the wrong place at the wrong time but for being in the right place at the right time, only to have their lives taken or changed beyond recognition. They have been made victims once and through this process they will be made victims again, until society decides that the PSNI are the police for Northern Ireland and it is their responsibility to investigate the past, the present and the future.”