The European Court Of Human Rights has said that Ireland had launched a legal challenge against Britain over a new law that gives conditional amnesties to former soldiers and paramilitaries during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The law has been condemned by victims’ families, human-rights groups and all major political parties on the island of Ireland.
It came into force last September.
The Irish Government, which submitted the case on 17 January, argues that certain provisions of the law are not compatible with the European Convention, the ECHR statement said.
Britain has halted prosecutions of those involved in the Troubles, saying they are unlikely to succeed and an independent body should be set up instead.
Britain argues that prosecutions linked to the events of up to 55 years ago are increasingly unlikely to lead to convictions and that the legislation is needed to draw a line under the conflict.
When announcing its decision to take the British government to court over the law last month, the Government had said it had no other recourse but to take legal action as London had shut off any possibility of apolitical resolution.
Britain called the Irish Government’s challenge “unnecessary.”
