The British government has said that it may consider appealing today's European Court judgement regarding ten IRA men shot dead by the security forces in the North. The spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, also said that there was no finding of unlawful killing, which meant the court had not found evidence of a "shoot to kill" policy.
The European Court of Human Rights found that the men, killed between 1982 and 1992, had their human rights violated. The Strasbourg-based court awarded each of the victims' families £10,000 in compensation. It is the first time the court has given compensation in such a case. The court said that the authorities had failed to conduct a proper investigation into the circumstances of the deaths.
Dozens of victims' relatives crowded into a hall on the Falls Road for an emotional news conference this morning. Punctuated by applause, they told journalists that this ruling vindicated their claims that the British government had acted unlawfully. Mark Thompson of the Relatives for Justice campaign said that it showed that the British had not been peacekeepers in the North, but had been protagonists in the conflict.
Teresa Kelly, whose brother was killed in the Loughgall ambush, said that the ruling showed there had been a cover-up which pointed clearly to a shoot to kill policy, even though the court had not explicitly said that. Afterwards Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly called the ruling "the most significant in 30 years".
The cases involved the deaths of 10 IRA men, one Sinn Féin member and a civilian at the hands of the SAS, the RUC and the Ulster Defence Regiment, allegedly acting in collusion with police. Compensation was awarded to the families of Patrick Kelly and seven other IRA men who died, along with a civilian, in a gunfight with the SAS at Loughall, County Armagh in 1987. The relatives of Pearse Jordan, shot dead by the RUC, Gervase McKerr, who died with two other Provisionals at the hands of a special police unit, and Sinn Féin member, Patrick Shanaghan, were also awarded compensation.
The North's First Minister said that he would like to study the European court's judgement, but his initial reaction was that it was astonishing. Speaking after an hour-long meeting with the Taoiseach at Government Buildings, David Trimble also said that he was disappointed at the "lack of progress" on decommissioning. The Northern Secretary, John Reid, said that he welcomed the fact that the court had not made any finding that the deaths amounted to unlawful killing.
