Northern Ireland judge rules that amnesty law for ‘the Troubles’ breaches human rights

A new law that gives immunity from prosecution for most offenses committed during Northern Ireland's decades of sectarian violence is not compliant with human rights, a judge in Belfast ruled Wednesday. The British government's Legacy and Reconciliation Bill, passed in September, stops most prosecutions for alleged killings by militant groups and British soldiers during “the Troubles” — the period in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the '90s in which more than 3,500 people died. The law was widely opposed by people in Northern Ireland and the Irish government.