Speaking on the 39th anniversary of the Kingsmills massacre, TUV leader Jim Allister blasted the recent Stormont House proposals for immunity on information retrieval as “legal absolution for selective confession”.
In a statement Mr Allister said:
“What is on offer to the innocent victim is the terrorist delivering his version of “the truth”, in return for immunity. Whether it would be the truth is very doubtful, it would merely be what the terrorist says is the truth and to protect himself it would give no leads that could provide any evidence against him. There is no transparent mechanism for sifting or testing what is said and secrecy for the terrorist is assured. So, once again, the terrorist would be in the driving seat and the innocent victim expected to live on whatever few crumbs are thrown in his/her direction. It’s legal absolution for selective confession.
“Sinn Fein, having got caught out in the Boston Tapes saga, has secured the major concession that any information obtained by the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR) will not be admissible in either criminal or civil proceedings, nor provided to any law enforcement agency (para 46). So much for the pretence that the proposals on the past are victim centred and respectful of ‘upholding the rule of law’ and ‘facilitating the pursuit of justice’ (para 21)! Moreover, the ICIR can conceal all it wants to conceal because it will be immune from FOI requirements (para 47).
“Thus, on this day when we think of the slaughter of innocent Protestants at Kingsmills, for no reason other than they were Protestants, it is timely to reflect on just how little the Stormont House proposals actually offer to innocent victims. Critically, in dealing with the past and with victims, there is no departure from the obscene definition of ‘victim’ presently applied, whereby there is equivalence between the innocent victim and the victim-maker. In consequence, the entire proposals on the past are tainted and flawed.”
The original commentary by TUV on the Stormont House Agreement can be viewed here:- https://tuv.org.uk/tuv-commentary-on-the-stormont-house-agreement/