It is hardly surprising that the British government has announced today (14 July) its intention to legislate for a statute of limitations that would allow an amnesty for all killings that took place during the political armed struggle in the Six Counties.
While it is not surprising that the British want to protect their military operatives, it is totally unacceptable. The history of the British empire and the barbarous violence it has inflicted upon colonised peoples shows that they have always protected their armed thugs from criminal prosecution. From India, Kenya and Malaya to Ireland, history confirms that British imperialism will protect at all costs the forces of repression that carry out the orders of their political masters.
Not alone does the British state need to protect its military, it also needs to cover its tracks in its control and use of loyalist paramilitaries in many killings and assassinations, to carry out state-directed killings for Britain’s strategic military and political goals.
There should be no amnesty for the British military and their role in the murder of hundreds of people in Ireland. Justice demands the prosecution of all those involved.
