N Ireland Legacy Act breaches human rights convention, Belfast judge rules

The High Court in Belfast has ruled that a key plank of controversial new UK legislation on the legacy of Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” conflict breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a damning 200-page ruling, Mr Justice Colton said he had also found “no evidence” that the legislation would spur reconciliation, as the UK argues. 

But the UK government doubled down on its intention to press on with the Legacy Act, which victims’ and rights groups and all political parties in Northern Ireland oppose, and said appeals to higher courts were likely.

The act, which became law last September, will scrap inquests into Troubles-era atrocities from May and offer perpetrators immunity from prosecution if they co-operate with a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

But in the first legal test of the legislation, Colton said he was “satisfied” that provisions in the Legacy Act to grant conditional immunity breached Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture, and should be disapplied.

He also found provisions scrapping new inquests into Troubles-era atrocities violated Article 6, which guarantees the right to a fair, public and independent hearing in a reasonable amount of time.

Opponents say the act puts the interests of state security forces and paramilitaries ahead of those of victims, and the Labour party has vowed to repeal it if it wins the next UK general election.

Stephen Farry, an MP from Northern Ireland’s Alliance party, called the legislation “unwanted, unworkable and contrary to European and international human rights standards”.

He added: “Today’s ruling should be a prelude to repeal of the Legacy Act.”

Daniel Holder, director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a rights group, said it was a “no brainer” that the amnesty scheme had been ruled unlawful. He noted that the government had said the act was central to its approach to legacy and that “by their own logic they now need to scrap this whole bill”.

ICRIR chief commissioner Sir Declan Morgan said last year that “if it [immunity] is not compliant with the convention then we will not implement it”.

The ruling sparked relief in Dublin, where the Irish government has separately brought a case against the UK at the European Court of Human Rights.

Dublin argues that the Legacy Act flouts key articles of the ECHR, which underpins the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the peace deal that ended the three decades-long Troubles involving republican paramilitaries seeking to reunite Ireland, loyalists determined to keep Northern Ireland in the UK and British state security forces.

Colton nonetheless ruled that the ICRIR was capable of carrying out ECHR-compliant investigations into Troubles-related deaths and offences.

Speaking in the House of Commons as the ruling was still being read out in Belfast, Chris Heaton-Harris, the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary, said he anticipated challenges in higher courts.

“It’s a very, very complex case. We will consider Mr Justice Colton’s findings very, very carefully,” he said. “But we do remain committed to implementing the Legacy Act . . . including delivering the ICRIR.”

The ICRIR said the ruling “has confirmed that the commission is independent and is capable of carrying out investigations which are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights”.