BELFAST, Northern Ireland, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The British government has awarded compensation to the family of a Real IRA member killed by his comrades, who believed he was an informer, relatives say.
The decision by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel angered the victims of Real IRA actions, The Guardian reported. The amount of money involved has not been released but Kieran Doherty's uncle, Vinnie Coyle, called it "substantial" Monday.
Doherty, 31, was killed three years ago in Derry, his body, stripped of clothes and bound, was dumped by the side of a road.
Michael Gallagher, whose son was killed in the Omagh bombing 15 years ago, said the families of some of the dead had struggled to get any compensation.
"No matter what way you look at it, when that check is given, that is the value the families feel has been put on their child's life," Gallagher said.
Coyle told the BBC that Doherty's family is happy because evidence produced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland of his nephew's involvement in Real IRA "did not stand up to very very close scrutiny."
"They are victims and it's my belief, and the belief of the Doherty family, that victims should be fully and openly and honestly compensated for acts carried out on family members," he said.
The Real IRA was a dissident republican group that merged with similar splinter groups last year to form the New IRA.
