Northern Ireland

Bereaved families and survivors protest the British Government’s Legacy Act outside the Court of Appeal hearing

‘We want to put in place the rule of law, norms and standards, not the Draconian act with which the British want to whitewash their past and exonerate themselves’ - Mark Thompson, Relatives for Justice

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK’s Northern Ireland deputy director
Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International UK’s Northern Ireland deputy director and Martina Dillon outside Court of Appeal hearing into British Government's Legacy Act. (Liam McBurney/PA)
By Catherine McGinty

Bereaved families and survivors protested outside the Court of Appeal in Belfast on Tuesday, as a British Government challenge began to a court ruling that part of its Legacy Act was unlawful.

In February, a High Court judge ruled the act’s provision for conditional immunity from prosecution for Troubles offences, should be struck out.

Martina Dillon, whose husband Seamus was shot dead in a loyalist attack at the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon in 1997, was one of the lead cases in that legal challenge against the amnesty component of the act.

Speaking to The Irish News, she said: “I am here to try to get overturned the government’s decision to stop inquests. I am entitled to truth and justice for my husband. That is what I have been fighting for. I am not going to stop until I get truth and justice.”

Legacy families protest before an appeal against a High Court ruling over the UK Government’s Legacy Act takes place at Belfast High Cort on Tuesday. PICTURE COLM LENAGHAN
Legacy families protest before an appeal against a High Court ruling over the UK Government’s Legacy Act. PICTURE COLM LENAGHAN

Mark Thompson, director of Relatives for Justice said the act was also being challenged by the Irish Government in Strasbourg.

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He added: “On all fronts, we are battling this in the interests of justice, truth and accountability. We want to put in place the rule of law, norms and standards, not the Draconian act with which the British want to whitewash their past and exonerate themselves.

“The Labour Party has committed to repealing the act. We will hold their feet to the fire and ensure that happens if they get elected,” said Mark Thompson.

Before entering court, Grainne Teggart, deputy director of Amnesty International described the hearing as the “crucial next step in the fight for truth and justice”.

She added: “The next UK government has the opportunity to right this historic wrong. They must immediately, as an urgent legislative priority, repeal the Troubles Act and put in place victim-centred processes that prioritise victims and not perpetrators.”