Dec 14, 2023 at 10:45 PM Update: 5 hours ago
A former British soldier is being prosecuted over the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre. A Northern Irish court decided on Thursday that there is sufficient evidence to proceed with the case.
On that Sunday in January 1972, British soldiers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Londonderry. Thirteen people were killed in the shooting. A fourteenth victim later died. The incident went down as Bloody Sunday.
The suspect, known as Soldier F., is the only British soldier to be prosecuted for the mass shooting. He is suspected of two murders and attempted murders of five other people. It should occur in Belfast, but it is still unclear when.
The brother of one of the victims called on authorities to speed up the case: “Witnesses are dying and are no longer available.”
The prosecution of Soldier F. has been leading to legal wrangling for years. Prosecutors decided to drop the case in 2021 after a similar trial had failed. Relatives of victims subsequently managed to reverse the decision through the courts.
British government has apologized
The British government apologized in 2010 for the military’s “unjustified” actions on Bloody Sunday. Investigation showed that the victims were innocent and posed no danger to the soldiers.
The massacre took place during The Troubles. That is a very turbulent period in Northern Ireland in the 1960s. Northern Irish Protestants and Catholics often clashed and committed attacks on each other.
At Northern Ireland’s request, the British government sent troops to restore order. That led to even more violence, from all sides. The violent conflict finally formally ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. At least 3,600 people died during the conflict.
Image: Reuters
Read more about:
Northern IrelandAbroad
2023-12-14 21:45:36
#British #soldier #prosecuted #Bloody #Sunday #massacre
