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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Cormac Kehoe and Haroon Siddique

UK security services helped devise act that gave amnesty over Troubles killings

British soldiers in riot gear stand near armored vehicles and a burning barricade in Belfast
British troops in Belfast in 1979. Photograph: Peter Kemp/AP

The British security services were involved in formulating the controversial Legacy Act, which offered an amnesty to soldiers and paramilitiaries despite MI5’s role in many killings during the Northern Ireland Troubles, it can be revealed.

The presence of policing and state agency figures among a secret policymaking group involved in devising the act – a fact established through an investigation by Belfast-based newsletter the Detail and shared with the Guardian – has angered victims’ groups already critical of the legislation.

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