Amnesty clause for soldiers breaches human rights law, Belfast court rules

Martina Dillon, whose husband was killed in a loyalist attack in 1997, outside the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast on Wednesday. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Legislation that gives conditional amnesties to soldiers and paramilitaries for Troubles-era crimes in Northern Ireland breaches human rights legislation, a high court in Belfast has ruled.

There was no evidence the immunity provision in the government’s Legacy Act would help reconciliation in Northern Ireland, the court said on Wednesday, delivering a fresh blow to the law that has angered victims’ groups and caused friction between London and Dublin.