“Bloody Sunday”. A former British army soldier, judged after 50 years of killing peaceful civilians in Northern Ireland

The trial of a veteran of the British army, accused of murder in the case of killing 13 unarmed Catholic protesters in Northern Ireland, in 1972, known as “bloody Sunday”, began on Monday, over half a century from one of the decisive moments of the North-Irish conflict.

Historical process in the UK Photo: Archive, Truth

The soldier, who cannot be identified and is known as soldier F, is accused of killing two men and attempted murder over five, when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the city of Londonderry, with a majority nationalist Irish population, writes Reuters.

According to the quoted source, it remains the worst armed incident in the three decades of sectarian violence between the nationalists who wanted a united Ireland, the pro-British unionists who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom and the British forces. A 1998 peace agreement has largely ended the blood spill.

Former parachutist, hidden by the eyes of those present in the courtroom behind a blue curtain, pleaded “innocent” At two murder charges and five charges of attempted murder in what was the bloodiest armed incident in the three decades of violence in Northern Ireland. A total of 13 people were killed and another 15 were injured.

After years of campaigns of victims' families, prosecutors decided in 2019 that there is not enough evidence to accuse another 16 former soldiers. However, the accusations against the soldier F.

“The civilians did not represent a threat to the soldiers and the soldiers could not believe that they would have represented a threat,” prosecutor Louis Mably told the Crown Court in Belfast. “The civilians were unarmed and were simply shot while they were running.”

The January 30, 1972 massacre in Londonderry became the symbol of the long -term conflict between the Catholic supporters of a united Irish and the predominantly Protestant forces who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom, according to ABCNews.

The tensions were mitigated after the 1998 peace agreement, known as the Agreement of Good Friday, which created a power division system between Republican and Unionist parties in Northern Ireland.

The families of the victims, who advocated for more than half a century for the responsibility of those responsible for killing, marched to the court before the trial, wearing photographs of the dead and going behind a banner that wrote “to justice”.

“It took 53 years to reach this point and we fought against all obstacles to get here,” said McKinney, whose brother, William, was killed in shot.

“Everything we have achieved so far has been possible due to our incessant commitment and refusal to give up”, he said.

Initially, the government said the soldiers in a parachute regiment opened fire on armed and terrorists who attacked them. An official investigation has graduated from any responsibility.

A subsequent investigation from 2010, has reached a much different conclusion, finding that the soldiers fired on unarmed people who were running and then lied to this for decades.

Prime Minister then David Cameron, apologized and said the killings were “Unjustified and unjustifiable”.

Soldier F was charged in 2019, but prosecutors initially decided not to go beyond fear that key evidence could be declared inadmissible, after a similar process failed due to aspects related to the admissibility of the evidence.

The High Court of Northern Ireland annulled the decision to stop the trial in 2022, after an appeal filed by the victims' families.