Call to review jury trials in the North to avoid intimidation

THE use of non-jury trials in the North needs to be looked into as soon as possible, peace process watchdogs yesterday warned.

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) said it would be wrong to wait for two years for the already planned review of the controversial system.

The report said London had finished its demilitarisation agenda, with a peacetime garrison of 4,275 troops marking the ending of the British army’s 38-year military operation in the North last July.

Pledges to demolish the remaining army observation posts and towers were honoured, the number of military bases in the North fell from 13 to seven with one more due to close at the end of this year, and helicopter flying hours were 31% less than for the same period last year, the probe found.

The IRA has abandoned violence and remains committed to peace, the 16th and final report from the body observed, noting dissident republicans remain a threat. the four member IMC stated.

The UVF “appears to have started to address the question of weapons,” but has not yet fulfilled the legal obligations of the decommissioning process, according to the report.

Justice minister Brian Lenihan welcomed the advances made in the North highlighted by the IMC.

“We have come a long way in a short time in terms of security normalisation.

“We need now to build upon these developments and allow the elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly to take responsibility for running the police and criminal justice system in Northern Ireland,” he said.

The commission hoped the use of non-jury trials in cases where it was feared jurors might be intimidated would become less frequent as the threat from republican and loyalist groups receded.

However, it also acknowledged the changes which had taken place in the criminal justice system with the dispensing of the Diplock non-jury courts and their replacement with a system shaped by the level of paramilitary activity.

“We note that the provisions will expire in two years unless renewed by the British parliament.

“We hope that they are fully reviewed before a decision is taken on renewal and that circumstances will then exist which would make it possible to align them more closely with the arrangements in other jurisdictions.

“If, as envisaged, criminal justice is by then devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, then we hope that the review will involve close consultation between the Northern Ireland minister for justice and the British government,” the report said.