No British justice in Ireland!

 

A British soldier  charged with murder over the Bloody Sunday massacre has been acquitted by a Belfast court, in a verdict condemned by victims’ relatives and Northern Ireland’s political leaders.  

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

That day on 30 January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, 13 innocent  peaceful Irish Catholics were murdered in broad daylight  by the British army, many more were injured  as they were marching for their basic freedoms and civil rights, under almost siege like conditions under unjust British rule in the city and across Northern Ireland,  in what is regarded.as one the darkest days of Northern Ireland's troubles. 

The civil rights protestors were shot in the Bogside by British soldiers  from the Parachute Regiment. The protestors were opposing the policy of internment which allowed the authorities to imprison suspected members of the IRA without trial. On 9 August, 11, British soldiers detained 342 people, many of whom were tortured and had no connection to the IRA . 

This disastrous policy led to an immediate increase in violence, with 17 people killed within the next 48 hours. On 22 January 1972, soldiers attacked an anti-internment protest in Derry, firing rubber bullets and beating protestors severely.

However the Northern Ireland Civil Rights  Association was determined not to be intimidated. so on 30 January 1972 around 10,000 people marched towards the city centre, but their route was blocked by army barricades. Here and there, some stones and bottles were thrown at the troops but collectively the marchers posed little threat to the well armed British soldiers, who  exceptionally on this day were members of an elite parachute regiment, thus trained for combat, not policing crowds. At some point for reasons that as never been established, British soldiers began firing into the crowd of civilians.

Soon many were falling to the ground.

All of the dead were unarmed, five were shot in the back. Most were shot fleeing the soldiers and several were killed trying to assist the wounded. One man was shot and killed while assisting a victim and waving a white handkerchief another killed with his arms raised in surrender position. Seven of them were teenagers. Another marcher died a month later and there were many more wounded from rubber bullets. 

The massacre became a worldwide symbol of state brutality – and community resilience. Which was followed by decades of state lies, cover-ups and smears against the victims, Bloody Sunday became one of the most notorious massacres in British military history.

It took decades for the British State to recognise that those killed on Bloody Sunday were innocent - that what was done was “unjustified and unjustifiable”. The Saville report concluded that those killed on Bloody Sunday posed no threat to the British army. They were innocent civilians murdered in an act of state violence. Over fifteen years ago, the then British Prime Minister publicly acknowledged the role of British soldiers on Bloody Sunday. The families and survivors have carried a weight of injustice that few of us will ever understand.

Today a  judge has found a British soldier not guilty for his role in the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972, a huge setback for a 53-year-long campaign for justice.   

After a campaign spanning five decades, the prosecution of a single soldier finally began in September.  ‘Soldier F’ was one of 18 former soldiers reported to prosecutors as a result of an investigation which followed the second public inquiry into Bloody Sunday.

The decision to charge him was only taken in 2019 under intense pressure from the families of the victims. Two years later, the case was suddenly dropped, but resumed in 2022 after a legal challenge. 

The Bloody Sunday massacre was planned and authorised by men of far higher rank than the scruffs like Soldier F who pulled the triggers. F and the other killers merely did what was expected of them, what they’d been ordered to do, what they’d repeatedly done before in the far-flung reaches of Empire. 

Evidence from 20 civilian witnesses was presented during the five weeks of the non-jury trial trial. For over two hours Judge Patrick Lynch recapped the evidence.  

He praised the Bloody Sunday families for their ‘quiet dignity’, attending court each day, and revealed Soldier F had attended each day, sitting behind a screen where only the judge could see him.

But there was profound shock in the courtroon as the judge announced he had been cleared of the murders of James Wray and William McKinney, and attempting to murder five others. 

Delivering his judgment, the judge said the evidence presented by the prosecution “falls below” the standard needed for conviction.  

He added that the court was “constrained and limited by the evidence put before it”.  

The judge spoke of the difficulty that the passage of time - it is almost 54 years since Bloody Sunday - presents to the legal process. Statements in the trial were 53 years old and documents have been destroyed or have gone missing.  

The judge also cast doubt on statements, previously described as decisive evidence, from two other British soldiers, as he said they appeared to have told lies on several occasions. 

 “Their statements, the sole and decisive evidence, cannot be tested in a way that witnesses giving evidence from the witness box would be,” he said. 

 “Delay has, in my view, seriously hampered the capacity of the defence to test the veracity and accuracy of the hearsay statements.  

“The two witnesses are themselves, on the basis of the Crown case guilty of murder as, in essence, accomplices with a motivation to name F as a participant in their murderous activities. 

 “I find that they have been serially untruthful about matters central to events giving rise to this prosecution.  

“They have committed perjury, G once to the Widgery Inquiry and H twice to the Widgery and Saville Inquiries. 

 “This is the evidence the Crown present as proving the guilt of F. Whatever suspicions the court may have about the role of F, this court is constrained and limited by the evidence properly presented before it.  

“To convict it has to be upon evidence that is convincing and manifestly reliable. 

 “The evidence presented by the Crown falls well short of this standard and signally fails to reach the high standard of proof required in a criminal case; that of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. 

 “Therefore, I find the accused not guilty on all seven counts on the present bill of indictment.”

Bloody Sunday families and supporters walked to the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday ahead of the verdict

 First Minister Michelle O'Neill said it was "deeply disappointing" that the Bloody Sunday families faced a "continued denial of justice".  "For more than five decades, they have campaigned with dignity and resilience for justice for their loved ones, their deeply cherished sons and fathers, uncles and brothers," the Sinn Féin deputy leader said.  

Foyle Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP Colum Eastwood said it was a "difficult day" for the Bloody Sunday families, but said they could "hold their heads up high".  "It is absolutely clear that those soldiers, including Soldier F, shot and killed people on Bloody Sunday," 

Eastwood said.  "These were innocent people, no weapons, just on a civil rights march, mowed down by the Parachute Regiment of the British Army. That's what happened and that's absolutely clear."

Soldier F being found not guilty for the murders of innocent civilians on Bloody Sunday shows that nothing has changed in Britain since the 1970s.Bloody Sunday is the most notorious example of state violence in the north , but it is not unique. Across the north of Ireland, hundreds of families bereaved by the British faced the same brick wall: no investigation, no disclosure, no accountability,

The British army has covered up crimes for over 50 years and there are still no prosecutions for their actions nor  has  a single British combatant  ever been convicted for the crimes  perpetrated that day.

Whether found guilty or not with lack of evidence, British Soldiers are guilty of murder. 

There is no British justice in Ireland!  An absolute  disgrace. 

Solidarity with families and friends of Bloody Sunday victims. They are an inspiration to the world. For over 50 years they have kept their heads held high, their voice determined, their dignity in tact!