Bloody Sunday trial of British ex-soldier to open in Belfast
The first hearing of an former British soldier accused of killing the victims of the bloody market massacre is opened on Monday in Belfast, the conflict of Northern Ireland has increased at a significant moment.
Only the old Paratrooper, defined as the “soldier F”, faces two murders and five murder accusations on the persecution of 1972, one of the most important events in the three -year “troubles” that disturbs the British territory.
He claimed that he was not guilty and applied last year to reject the case against him, but a judge rejected his claim.
The former soldier is accused of killing civilians James Wray and William McKinney, and during the pressure on a civil rights protest in Londonderry, also known as Derry, to kill more than half a century ago.
On January 30, 1972, the British troops opened fire on protesters in the majority of Londonderry, the second largest city of Northern Ireland, and killed 13 people.
14. The victim then died of his wounds.
Hidden by a large curtain from the public opinion, Soldier F replied, “Not guilty,” each of the seven charges were given to him last year.
During the trial, anonymity and screening application was given by the judge.
– State apology –
The relatives of the victims of the massacre plan to gather outside the court before the hearing was opened.
Tony Doherty, who is one of the victims of Patrick Bloody Sunday, told the local media in Derry, “We waited for 53 years for justice, and I hope we will take a measure during this hearing.”
Bloody Sunday helped support the temporary IRA, the main paramilitary organization fighting for a united Ireland.
It was one of the most bloody incidents of the conflict known as problems, while 3,500 people were killed. It ended with 1998 peace agreements.
Northern Irish prosecutors first proposed the military F stand war in 2019.
Before reopening in 2022, he dropped the case after the trial of other old origins collapsed.
The trial proved to be deeply separatist in Northern Ireland, where decades of sectarian violence that began in the 1960s continued to make a long shadow.
After the murders, an investigation in 1972 cleared guilt soldiers, but was seen as whitewash by the Catholics.
This investigation – the Widaj Court – closed the prosecution at that time, and only decades later, after the 1998 peace agreements, a new peace – Saville investigation – was opened.
– Legal Date –
The biggest investigation in the history of law of the British in this 12-year Public Investigation concluded that British parachutists lost control in the 2010 and that none of the wounded pose a threat of death or serious injury.
The investigation encouraged Prime Minister David Cameron to publish an official state apology for murders and call them “unfair and unfair”.
The Northern Irish police later began a murder investigation on Sunday, and finally sent their files to prosecutors in 2016.
While the lawsuit against the military F is faced with more than one delay on evidence, it has not been common since many bloody market witnesses have been killed since then.
The controversial UK legislation was adopted in accordance with the conservatives in 2023, and the former law effectively ended the prosecution of most of the problems for both former soldiers and paramilitters.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn officially began the process of abolishing the action last December.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, Dublin on Friday and London’s British counterpart Keir Starmer after a meeting with the problems in Northern Ireland to accept a new framework about the old problems, he said.
In November 2022, the former British soldier David Holden became the first soldier convicted without killing during the 1998 agreements.
23 -year -old Aidan Manespie’yi shot for a three -year suspended penalty to kill.
PMU/JJ/CW/MJW
