The families of 1972 massacre victims are contacted to ask what way they want to receive news
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry was chaired by Lord Saville
Allison Morris
Today at 01:45
A decision on whether soldiers will be prosecuted for perjury over evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry is expected within weeks.
Thirteen people were shot dead when members of the Parachute Regiment opened fire on civilians in Derry in January 1972.
After a lengthy campaign by bereaved families and survivors, a public inquiry was held, lasting 12 years and hearing evidence from eyewitnesses, experts and former soldiers.
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry chaired by Lord Saville was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
It opened in 2000 at Derry’s Guildhall.
The inquiry relocated to London in 2002 to hear evidence from former soldiers, who said they feared being attacked by dissidents if they travelled to Northern Ireland to be cross-examined. The were granted immunity from prosecution if they told the truth.
Lord Saville delivered his findings in June 2010, with Prime Minister David Cameron later apologising, saying the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable”.
Eighteen former paratroopers were later reported to the Public Prosecution Service.
Last December it was announced one, Soldier F, will stand trial for the murders William McKinney and James Wray, and for five attempted murders.
The PPS also received police files on those alleged to have given false or deliberately misleading evidence.
People who gave evidence to the inquiry did so on the understanding they would have legal immunity.
This came in the form of the Attorney General’s assurance against future prosecution for self-incrimination, should they wish to tell the truth about the murders and attempted murders, perjury and perverting the course of justice that they may have committed in their personal accounts in 1972.
This amnesty also applied to IRA personnel who gave evidence to the inquiry, including Martin McGuinness, who said he was second in command of the IRA in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
All the witnesses were assured they would never stand trial as long as they told the truth.
However, it was alleged some did not, and Lord Saville severely criticised them in his conclusion presented to Parliament.
The victims’ families were contacted this week to ask if they would like to receive the prosecutorial decisions directly or through their legal representatives.
The families are represented by Madden & Finucane solicitors.
Partner Ciaran Shiels said: “We will now await the PPS decisions as to whether or not prosecutions will be instituted against the military witnesses who lied under oath to the Bloody Sunday Tribunal from 2001-2004, but also to Lord Widgery in the spring of 1972.”
It comes as the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), set up under the controversial Legacy Act, prepares to start taking its first Troubles cases from May 1.
In February the High Court ruled the conditional immunity the body could offer from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, Mr Justice Colton said he was also satisfied the ICRIR “could carry out human rights-compliant investigations”.
It is unclear what impact this will have on any PPS decisions to prosecute in legacy cases, given the May 1 cut-off date will be the end of all criminal prosecutions.
UK Government’s appeal against a ruling that parts of its controversial Troubles Legacy Act are ‘unlawful’ senior judge rules
(Liam McBurney/PA)
By Alan Erwin
April 09, 2024 at 12:55PM BST
The UK Government’s appeal against a ruling that parts of its controversial new Troubles Legacy Act are unlawful will be heard in June, Northern Ireland’s most senior judge has confirmed.
Lawyers representing the Northern Ireland Office are challenging a finding that the plans to offer conditional immunities from prosecution and shut down civil actions related to three decades of conflict in the region breaches human rights laws.
Lawyers representing the Northern Ireland Office are challenging a finding that the plans to offer conditional immunities from prosecution and shut down civil actions related to three decades of conflict in the region breaches human rights laws.
At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan listed the case for a four-day hearing in an attempt to obtain further certainty over the status of the legislation.
She stressed: “I want it pinned down to the legal questions we have to answer.”
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, which came into effect last September, offers a conditional amnesty to those accused of crimes during more than 30 years of sectarian violence.
It will also end future civil litigation and inquests into conflict-related deaths not completed before the cut-off date of May 1.
Amid fierce opposition from victims’ organisations, political parties and the Irish Government, a raft of judicial review challenges were brought by some of those who either lost loved ones or were injured in the conflict.
They argued that the legislation is unconstitutional, denies access to justice and aimed at protecting British Army veterans and other security force personnel from prosecution for any wrongdoing in Northern Ireland.
The UK Government has described the Act as an attempt to draw a line under Northern Ireland’s troubled past.
It involves the establishment of an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) headed up by former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Sir Declan Morgan.
Self-confessed perpetrators who fully cooperate with the legacy body may be offered an amnesty from prosecution.
In February, a High Court judge ruled that the potential granting of immunity under the Act is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Mr Justice Colton also declared that sections of the legislation shutting down Troubles-related civil actions brought after May 17, 2022 and prohibiting any new claims lodged after November 18, 2023 is incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR and the Windsor Framework.
The Government is now appealing those findings as part of a legal battle which is ultimately expected to reach the Supreme Court.
Tony McGleenan KC, for the Secretary of State, thanked Dame Siobhan for ensuring an “expedited” hearing.
A cross-appeal is also being mounted by relatives of some victims over a separate ruling that the ICRIR has sufficient independence and powers to effectively investigate Troubles-related deaths and offences.
The Commission has now instructed counsel in a bid to be represented at the forthcoming hearing.
With a number of legal issues still to be resolved, the Lady Chief Justice set out her intention to deal with everything at once.
Listing the appeal to begin on June 11, she told the parties: “The worst thing we could have is a series of appeals.”
With the Acts of Union in 1800 (ratified in 1801), Ireland (which had been under some form of English control since the 12th century) merged with Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As a result, Ireland lost its parliament in Dublin and was governed by a united parliament from Westminster in London. During the 19th century, groups of Irish nationalists opposed this arrangement in varying degrees.
Did you know? After the Easter Rising, one of the rebels, American-born Eamon de Valera, was sentenced to death. However, he ended up serving only a brief prison term and went on to become one of Ireland’s leading political figures, with a career spanning half a century.
Some moderate nationalists advocated for home rule, under which Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom but also have some form of self-government. Several home rule bills were defeated in Parliament in the late 1800s before one finally passed in 1914. However, implementation of home rule was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I (1914-18).
Meanwhile, members of a secret revolutionary organization called the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), who believed home rule wouldn’t go far enough and instead sought complete independence for Ireland, began planning what would become the Easter Rising. They hoped their rebellion would be aided by military support from Germany, which was fighting the British in World War I. Roger Casement (1864-1916), an Irish nationalist, arranged for a shipment of German arms and ammunition for the rebels; however, shortly before the insurrection began, the British detected the ship and it was scuttled by its captain. Casement was charged with treason and executed in August 1916
