Why Isn't This Part Of The Good Friday Agreement?

[jake-the-peg]

Posted here because I'm looking for a technical answer rather than wading into the News political mudslinging.

Someone has been charged with the Hyde Park bombing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22625104

Does anybody know how this fits in with the Good Friday agreement? Did that only cover people currently in prison for such offenses and not those yet to be charged?

[ABerrant]

From the report:

"Anyone convicted of a terrorist offence in the UK or Irish Republic before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 15 April 1998 is entitled to apply to the Sentence Review Commission to be considered for release after serving two years in jail."

[sandyRoe]

If the accused is eventually convicted he would be released in a short time. There was a man convicted just a few months ago of the sectarian murder of a teenage girl in Belfast in the 70s. He'll be released in less than 2 years.

[New Judge]

Yes, sounds like a good agreement. For some.

[jake-the-peg]

By 'for some' NJ I presume you're thinking of the paras who opened fire on unarmed civillians on Bloody Sunday?

[New Judge]

No jake. I'm thinking mainly of the perpetrators of the 3,500 or so deaths that have occurred since 1969 (including over 1,000 members of the UK security forces). Know the perpetrators of subsequent murders have not seen their sentences reduced but it is worth noting that atrocities have continued to occur (albeit at a lower rate) since the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

The killing of the thirteen (I think) civilians on Bloody Sunday was extremely regrettable and I won't go into what I think of "The Troubles", but that number pales into insignificance when compared to the total number of people murdered and for whom justice was dealt a very sorry blow when the Good Friday agreement was signed.