Articles by Iain Gray

Technology

New veterans protections actually widely available, admits Labour

Under legacy measures announced in September, former members of the military who served in Northern Ireland were slated to enjoy six specific safeguards, including bulwarks against repeated investigation and the right to refuse to travel to Ulster if called to give evidence. But a government minister in the House of Lords has now admitted that some of those rights extend to more than just veterans, stating that they “will necessarily apply to others” as well. The statement came as the Daily Telegraph reported news of another Troubles legacy prosecution, with a 78-year-old known as Soldier B facing trial over the shooting of IRA gunman Eugene Devlin in west Belfast in 1972. That prosecution has been slammed by a senior army figure, General Lord Francis Dannatt, who complains of IRA members “being pardoned and released from prison while British soldiers waited anxiously for a knock on the door”. He added the new trial “beggars belief” as it comes so soon after another veteran, Soldier F, was cleared of charges relating to Bloody Sunday. Tories have urged the government to reinstate immunity for veterans that Labour scrapped, though September’s legacy announcement was billed as bringing through measures to safeguard veterans. Now it has been revealed some of those protections aren’t exclusive to veterans after all. In reply to a written question from Baroness Kate Hoey, Labour whip Baroness Ruth Anderson revealed that some measures supposedly brought in to specifically help veterans will in fact be enjoyed more widely. She stated: “All of the protections that the government has announced are being introduced in order to protect and ensure fair treatment of any veteran who is asked to engage with legacy mechanisms. “Measures set out in the legislation, including the right to give evidence remotely and having regard to the welfare of witnesses, will necessarily apply to others. This will ensure, for example, that former police officers are able to avail of these measures. “Some other non-legislative measures will apply only to veterans, including the protection from cold calling and the new safeguard that ensures veterans do not have to give unnecessary evidence on historical context and general operational details.” Her words came as the weekend saw news break of moves against Soldier B, even though the Troubles veteran was told in 1997 that he wouldn’t be prosecuted. The army man was on duty in the heavily republican Andersontown area of Belfast in May 1972, when his patrol sighted a man – named as IRA member Eugene Devlin – armed with a rifle. Devlin’s alleged to have fired at least one shot, and was wounded by the patrol’s weapons. Soldier B now faces an attempted murder rap. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former chief of the general staff General Lord Dannatt said the move “sums up the dilemma” since the Good Friday Agreement: “How to treat British soldiers fairly.” He stated: “Why prosecutors think they can get a conviction 53 years after the events in question flies in the face of good legal practice and suggests that political pressure is more powerful than the pursuit of justice. “No one is above the law, but the administration of it must be on a level playing field.”