Don't make victims a sideshow in Troubles justice experiment: Beattie

Terror victims 'should not be a sideshow' in any experimental justice initiative around legacy investigations, Doug Beattie has said.
Ulster Unionist MLA and former Royal Irish captain Doug Beattie during a rally in Belfast in support of military veterans last AprilUlster Unionist MLA and former Royal Irish captain Doug Beattie during a rally in Belfast in support of military veterans last April
Ulster Unionist MLA and former Royal Irish captain Doug Beattie during a rally in Belfast in support of military veterans last April

Responding to comments from former director of public prosecutions (DPP) Barra McGrory QC – that it was time to call a halt to Troubles-era prosecutions – the Ulster Unionist MLA said: “If we are going to investigate the crimes of the Troubles and in some way bring truth, then that must be coupled with justice. Where this cannot happen, then victims must be handled with sensitivity and honesty.

“Victims should not be a sideshow in some experiment around justice.”

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On Friday, Mr McGrory proposed that there should be an alternative method used to retrieve information rather than a criminal justice process.

He told the BBC: “I am suggesting that there not be a criminal justice process but there be an alternative process to elicit information which is not linked to criminal sanction.”

Mr McGrory stressed that he was not advocating a line be drawn under the past, but said the creation of the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) would raise expectations without good quality evidence being available.

“Time cannot be wound back, so the quality of the evidence will still be very poor,” he said.

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“There will be few convictions and in respect of those convictions, people will not be serving sentences commensurate with what they have been convicted for.”

Mr Beattie said he could not agree with any proposal that would effectively “stop investigations and draw a line under any chance of prosecutions,” and also said there were “fatal flaws” in other legacy proposals.

“If you combine the HIU with the Independent Commission of Information Retrieval (ICIR) you will see two competing mechanisms.

“While the consultation document says the evidence given to the ICIR cannot be used for HIU investigations, the consultation document then goes on to say that the family reports, issued by the ICIR, can be used to generate evidence for an investigation. Why on earth would loyalists, republicans or even state forces get involved in an ICIR that could lead to them being investigated?” he said.

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In December last year, Mr McGrory said any partial amnesty for former security force members “would be difficult to administer,” and added: “It would certainly invite challenges but it is not for me to say whether it is legal or not. In terms of the international legality of it, it would be questionable.”

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