Why have prosecutors dropped Troubles-era murder charges against former soldiers who served in Northern Ireland?
A technicality, and a whole lot of history, lie behind Friday’s decision to halt the prosecution of two veterans. Soldier F had been charged with two murders and five attempted murders during Bloody Sunday in Derry in January 1972. Soldier B was charged with killing a teenager in the city in July 1972.
The cases hinged partly on statements the soldiers gave to royal military police soon after the shootings. Prosecutors said the statements were inadmissible after a court ruling in April that led to the collapse of a trial against two other veterans for a killing in Belfast in 1972. The soldiers were not cautioned before giving statements, an oversight that is deemed to have contaminated those and subsequent statements.
Will this affect other prosecutions?
Probably. Prosecutors are reviewing all cases that rely on such statements. In the absence of other evidence – common in cases dating back decades – the prosecutions will halt. Between 150 and 200 former soldiers and police are, or were, under investigation for their alleged actions during the Troubles. Friday’s decision puts a question mark over the handful that had been expected to proceed to court. At least two prosecutions are expected to go ahead, that of Denis Hutchings, for a fatal shooting in Tyrone in 1974, and of David Holden, who is charged with manslaughter over a shooting in Tyrone in 1988.
Why is the legal system still dealing with Troubles-era cases?
More than 3,500 people died during the 1969-98 conflict. Most cases were not solved. The Good Friday agreement provided no mechanism to deal with the backlog, leaving the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) with a mountain of cold cases. What became known as “legacy” turned into a political football, with nationalists, unionists and the British government accusing each other of seeking selective justice and rewriting history. The trickle of prosecutions that makes it to court tend to fail, leaving victims’ families waiting in vain for truth and justice.
What happens next?
Maybe not much. The issue is so complicated and fraught that there is a tendency to kick the can down the road until the alleged perpetrators, who are now elderly, die. This so-called “biological solution” overlooks the fact that families’ grief and trauma can pass down generations.
The government is under pressure from Tories and veterans’ groups to shield veterans from prosecution, but a de facto amnesty would probably also apply to members of the IRA and other paramilitary groups. British and Irish officials agreed last month to seek a joint way out of the morass. Some campaigners advocate offering alleged perpetrators conditional amnesty in return for disclosure, a recognition that it may be too late for justice, but not for truth.
