Troubles

A group of young men, known as the "Derry Four", were coerced into confessing to the murder of a soldier in 1979, an investigation by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has concluded. The watchdog investigated on the foot of complaints from the men, three of whom were aged 17 at the time and

Northern Ireland's High Court has rejected a claim that the PSNI cannot ensure an independent investigation into the unsolved Cappagh murders. The application, brought by the brother of one of the victims under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, was found to be "doomed to fail". O

Controversial legislation aimed at ending prosecutions for killings during the Troubles will be introduced to Westminster today. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation Bill) will create a new independent body called the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Reco

Declassified files from the 1970s show the UK government planned to discredit Amnesty International in response to its investigative work on British forces' use of torture in Northern Ireland. An internal Foreign Office memo dating from December 1971 proposes that the government should leak details

UK government plans to address the legacy of the past represent a "full-frontal attack on the rule of law" in spite of revisions making an amnesty conditional on co-operation with authorities, campaigners have said. Yesterday's Queen's speech, setting out the government's legislative programme for t

Lawyers for the relatives of two victims of the Troubles have sought to have their challenge to the UK government's controversial legacy plans heard in the UK Supreme Court. Patricia Burns, daughter of Thomas Burns, and Daniel McCready, nephew of James McCann, had their case rejected by Northern Ire

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal regarding a decision by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The court found that it was not reasonable for the PSNI to reopen one specific legacy case because new evidence came to light, and rejected the argument that they h

Northern Ireland's High Court has found that the Attorney General had applied the wrong test in assessing whether a fresh inquest should be granted into the British Army killing of Thomas Aquinas Burns. Leave to judicially review his decision was granted where it was found that the Attorney General

Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal has ordered prosecutors to reconsider the decision to discontinue the prosecution of Soldier F for the murder of William McKinney on Bloody Sunday in 1972. While quashing the decision of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to discontinue the prosecution of Soldier

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rejected a challenge to the decision to refuse to set aside a subpoena ad testificandum issued by the High Court pursuant to section 67(1) of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978, in the context of an ongoing coroner inquest. The court found that th

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has dismissed a case brought against the UK by the sister of an IRA volunteer who was shot dead by British soldiers in 1990, despite identifying certain weaknesses in a 2012 inquest. In a unanimous ruling handed down this morning, the court said it was stil

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will rule this week in a case brought against the United Kingdom by the sister of an IRA volunteer who was shot dead by British soldiers in 1990. The applicant in the case is Sally Gribben, whose brother Martin McCaughey and fellow IRA volunteer Desmond Gre

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has identified "collusive behaviours" in the RUC's handling of a number of paramilitary attacks by the UDA/UFF between 1989 and 1993. The attacks included 19 murders and multiple attempted murders, including the murder of Sinn Féin councillor Eddie Fu

A civil case for compensation brought against the Ministry of Defence and the PSNI by a man who alleges he was waterboarded in 1972 will begin in the High Court in Belfast tomorrow. Liam Holden, now 67, alleges he was waterboarded three or four times by members of the Parachute Regiment after his ar

Lawyers for the "Hooded Men" say they have been vindicated by a UK Supreme Court ruling that the PSNI's decision not to investigate their allegations of torture by the British Army in 1971 was unlawful. An RTÉ documentary broadcast in 2014 made public for the first time a memo written by the