'Challenging' report offers no amnesty
THE proposed framework for how Northern Ireland will finally deal with the legacy of the Troubles is to be revealed at the end of this month.
It is understood the much anticipated, landmark Eames-Bradley report will be made public on January 28.
A spokesman for Eames-Bradley has said the final document will be "challenging".
But he insisted it was will not include any amnesty for terrorists.
He urged against speculation.
However, last October the News Letter was briefed on a leaked copy of a draft of the report.
This has now been described as an outline paper, to which some changes have been made.
The draft, though, was initially suggesting a five-year commission – with three to five members sitting on it – to deal with all elements of the murders and atrocities of the Troubles.
As part of this process, work would continue on historical investigations into killings.
But should it be viewed that an inquiry was never going to achieve a conviction, such cases would pass to a private "information" forum, where paramilitary killers would be encouraged to divulge what they know about incidents – in an effort to at least establish the truth of what happened.
Immunity would be granted, at this stage, to terrorists within the information recovery period.
But a wholesale terrorist amnesty was being ruled out, as any evidence gathered independently by the PSNI, outside the process, could still be used to prosecute.
Denis Bradley – co-chair of the Consultative Group on the Past with Lord Eames – reiterated the no amnesty message, in a speech at Queens University in November.
"People have said to us, 'why not just draw a line in the sand?'", said Denis Bradley.
"But that would mean no more prosecutions and that is the same as introducing a general amnesty.
"Let me state in the clearest terms possible. There will be no amnesty recommended in our report."
However, politicians and victims' groups said they would wait to judge the final report themselves.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the SDLP called on 2009 to be the year that victims' issues were finally dealt with, after constant delay in properly establishing the Victims' Commission which has no proper remit, yet, because of legal wrangles over it becoming a four, rather than one member body.
SDLP spokesperson on victims' issues, MLA Dolores Kelly said: "The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has allowed a shameful backlog of unresolved issues to pile up and none is more shameful than their failure to deal properly with the past in general and victims in particular.
"It is particularly shameful that the First Ministers have allowed people who have suffered so much for years and even decades to get caught up in party-political tussles between Sinn Fein and the DUP. It is time for them to sort it all out."
She added: "OFMDFM also needs to place these measures for victims firmly in the context of the whole task of dealing with the past, including the Eames-Bradley process.
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