Ex-soldier acquitted of Bloody Sunday massacre charges

A Belfast court has found a British soldier not guilty of murder in the only trial of a member of the British armed forces for the Bloody Sunday murder of 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland in 1972.

In 2010, in one of the defining moments of Northern Ireland’s recent history, the British government apologized for the “unjust and unjust” killings when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the predominantly Irish nationalist town of Londonderry.

However, all efforts to prosecute the soldiers failed.

The legally unidentified soldier, known as Soldier F, was found not guilty of killing two people and trying to kill five others when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the predominantly Irish nationalist town of Londonderry.

Judge Patrick Lynch said the concept of “collective criminality” did not exist in the courts.

He said the Crown failed to establish that Trooper F “knowingly and deliberately assisted in the shootings with intent to kill or shot himself with that intent.”

He said the only evidence against Troop F came from two other veterans, Troops G and H, and there were difficulties in relying on that.

The judge said, “Their statements, which are the only and definitive evidence, cannot be tested in the same way as witnesses who testify from the witness stand.”

“The delay, in my view, seriously hindered the defense’s ability to test the truth and accuracy of the hearsay statements.”

with PA and AP