Gerry Adams to bring fresh court case over 1970s detention

Gerry Adams to bring fresh court case over 1970s detention

Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is to pursue fresh legal action against the UK government after it moved to prevent him from receiving compensation following a UK Supreme Court ruling.

The new Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will retrospectively legalise the detention of Mr Adams and others in the 1970s in order to prevent the payment of compensation to them following the UK Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in R v Adams [2020] UKSC 19.

The government said it would “address the UK Supreme Court ruling in Adams regarding the application of the Carltona principle in the context of interim custody orders, making clear that such orders could be made by junior ministers as well as by the secretary of state”.

In a statement, Mr Adams said: “I have instructed my legal team that it is my intention to pursue legal action against Keir Starmer’s decision to retrospectively change a law which a Conservative government broke over 50 years ago.”

He said “upwards of 400 other internees” could be denied compensation as a result of the decision.

Mr Adams added: “Like many others I will be speaking to my legal team in the next few days to examine what options here and within Europe are open to us.”

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