BELFAST (Reuters) – The only British soldier charged with murder in relation to the “Bloody Sunday” killings of 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Londonderry by British paratroopers in 1972 will not face trial, lawyers for families of the victims said on Friday.
Soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on an unauthorised march in an Irish nationalist area in one of the most notorious incidents of Northern Ireland “Troubles”. They killed 13 people and wounded 14 others, one of whom died later.
The unnamed soldier, dubbed “Soldier F”, was charged in 2019 with the murders of two men and attempted murders of five others. The evidence was insufficient to charge 16 other former soldiers
A judicial inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday, which took place at the height of Northern Ireland’s 30-year conflict, said in 2010 the victims were innocent and had posed no threat to the military.
Prosecutors informed the families of their decision to drop the case due to difficulties in relation to the evidence, John Kelly, whose brother Michael Kelly was among those killed, told a news conference.
Lawyers for the families said they had informed Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service of its intention to seek an immediate judicial review.
“This is not exoneration of Soldier F, the whole world knows what he did here. It’s a day of devastation but we’re not going to give up. We’ll find a way one way or another to get justice, the fight for justice goes on,” Kelly said.
The conflict pitted mostly Catholic nationalists fighting for a united Ireland and mostly Protestant unionists, or loyalists, who wanted Northern Ireland to stay part of the United Kingdom.
The British army, originally sent into the province to keep the two sides apart, largely combated the IRA (Irish Republican Army). The 1998 Belfast or Good Friday Agreement ended most of the violence.
(Reporting by Ian Graham writing by Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Jon Boyle)
