Court finds former British soldier not guilty in Bloody Sunday murder trial

A Belfast court acquitted a British soldier who had been accused of murder in connection with the Bloody Sunday massacre, a decision that was condemned by the victims’ relatives and the political leader of Northern Ireland.

When soldiers opened fire on unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Derry more than 50 years ago, the former British paratrooper, known as Soldier F, was accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney and attempting to murder five others.

As Judge Patrick Lynch read Soldier F’s guilty verdict, Belfast Crown Court was silent on Thursday as he read the verdict. In the crowded courtroom, Soldier F listened to the verdict behind a thick blue curtain.

More than 10,000 people marched in Derry on January 30, 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on unarmed civil rights protesters. At least 26 unarmed civilians were shot by British soldiers. Four months later, a man died from his injuries in the form of a fatal accident while another thirteen people were killed.

The massacre helped to stoke the Troubles by bringing about nearly three decades of hostility between Irish nationalists fighting for a united Ireland, pro-British unionists fighting for the British Army to remain in the country. The bloodshed was largely ended by a peace agreement in 1998.

In his ruling, Lynch argued that “those responsible should hang their heads in shame” because he believed that soldiers had lost all sense of military discipline and opened fire with the intention of killing.

He claimed, however, that the investigation failed to provide sufficient evidence.

According to him, “delay has seriously hampered the ability of the defense to verify the veracity and accuracy of the hearsay statements.”

The Widgery Tribunal, a 1972 investigation that began with the massacre, largely exonerated the British forces.

In a second investigation, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, or Saville Inquiry, discovered in June 2010 that paramedics had opened fire on armed civilians as they approached unarmed civilians.

Police in Northern Ireland launched a murder investigation following the Saville Inquiry, and prosecutors determined that a former soldier would face charges of two murders and five attempted murders.

Prior to now, the prosecution ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to charge 16 additional former British soldiers.

During the one-month trial, which was heard without a jury, Soldier F was not asked to give evidence. Prior to the massacre, he had previously told investigators that he no longer had a reliable memory of it.

One of the two victims named in the case, Mickey McKinney’s brother, Mickey McKinney, denounced the verdict on Thursday in the courtroom.

According to McKinney, “Soldier F has been discharged from the defendant’s criminal dock, but it is one million miles away from an honorable discharge.” On Bloody Sunday, Soldier F “created two young widows,” orphaned 12 children, and deprived dozens of his siblings of a loving brother.

McKinney reaffirmed his “strong conviction” that the British government was to blame for the trial’s outcome.

The RUC, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and the Northern Irish police, who allegedly failed to properly or even partially investigate the murders on Bloody Sunday, are to blame, according to McKinney.

Following Thursday’s verdict, a government spokesman said the UK was “committed to finding a way forward that acknowledges the past, while supporting those who served their country during a very difficult period in Northern Ireland’s history.”

First Minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill, the party’s vice president, called the decision “deeply disappointing.”

Source: Aljazeera