The only British soldier to be prosecuted in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland went on trial on Monday in Belfast on murder charges in a case that has come to symbolise the three decades of sectarian violence known as “The Troubles”.
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The ex-paratrooper, a lance corporal named as “Soldier F” to protect his identity, was concealed behind a blue curtain that shielded him from view of the families of some of the 13 people killed and 15 wounded when troops opened fire on unarmed civil rights demonstrators on January 30, 1972, in Londonderry, also known as Derry.
“The civilians … did not pose a threat to the soldiers and nor could the soldiers have believed that they did,” prosecutor Louis Mably said during an opening statement in Belfast Crown Court. “The civilians were unarmed and they were simply shot as they ran away.”
The Army veteran pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in what was the deadliest shooting of the long-running conflict between mainly Catholic supporters of a united Ireland and predominantly Protestant forces that wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.
While the conflict largely ended with the 1998 Good Friday peace accord that created a system for Republican and Unionist parties to share power in Northern Ireland, tensions remain. Families of civilians killed continue to press for justice and supporters of army veterans complain that their losses have been downplayed and that they have been unfairly targeted in investigations.
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Families of the victims who have campaigned for more than a half century for accountability for the killings marched to the courthouse before the trial carrying photos of the dead and walking behind a banner reading “Towards Justice”.