Former Sinn Fein leader Adams faces a lawsuit in London over bombings during the 'Troubles'

Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is facing a lawsuit by three people wounded in bombings attributed to the Irish Republican Army that date back more than 50 years

LONDON -- Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams faces a lawsuit by three people who were wounded in bombings attributed to the Irish Republican Army that date back more than 50 years, a judge said Friday.

Adams can be sued as an individual but not as a representative of the IRA, Justice Michael Soole ruled. The judge also threw out a claim against the IRA, saying the group could not be sued because it was not a legal entity.

Adams is one of the most influential figures of Northern Ireland’s decades of conflict and led the IRA-linked party Sinn Fein between 1983 and 2018. He has always denied being an IRA member, though former colleagues have said he was one of its leaders.

The three claimants are seeking to prove Adams was responsible for bombings in England during "the Troubles,” referring to three decades of violence involving Irish republican and British loyalist militants and U.K. soldiers. Some 3,600 people were killed — most in Northern Ireland, though the IRA also set off bombs in England.

The three claimants are John Clark, a victim of the 1973 Old Bailey courthouse bombing in London, Jonathan Ganesh, a 1996 London Docklands bombing victim, and Barry Laycock, a victim of the 1996 Arndale shopping center bombing in Manchester. They allege Adams was a leading member of the IRA during those events and was on its decision-making Army Council.