Soldiers win Bloody Sunday case

Soldiers fear they would be in danger at Guildhall

Soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday have won a court battle against a decision that they should appear in person to give evidence at the inquiry being held in Londonderry.

The 36 former and serving soldiers, who brought the case to the High Court in London, feared that if they were forced to travel to Derry, where the Saville Inquiry is sitting in the Guildhall, they would be targeted by republicans.

The soldiers have succeeded in overturning the ruling by inquiry chairman Lord Saville of Newdigate, who said there was no compelling reason the soldiers should not give evidence in Derry, like all the other witnesses.

Lord Saville dismissed soldiers' safety fears

The soldiers' lawyers argued at the High Court that their security could not be guaranteed in the city where 13 civilians were shot dead by British paratroopers during a civil rights march on 30 January 1972.

Among the soldiers are the paratroopers who fired fatal shots that day.

The inquiry was given leave to appeal.

Relatives of those killed and injured said they were "very disappointed" by the decision and may challenge it.

In a BBC interview, Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, said Derry was the "natural place" for the soldiers to give their evidence.

We are seeing that any rulings this international inquiry is making are being undermined by the British judiciary in London

Liam Wray
Victim's brother

"Derry is where the events happened nearly 30 years ago, where my brother's life-blood was spilled," he said.

"I have been at the Guildhall for the last year-and-a-half watching the proceedings. It is a legal arena which in itself lends people to tell the truth."

Mr Wray said the Queen's visit to Derry on Thursday had proved the soldiers' argument of security concerns to be unfounded.

"Publicly the families have stated that they would be horrified if anyone was to interfere with the soldiers physically or verbally.

"The reality of the security situation is that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited this city yesterday, had a fine day and then left."

He said his family's confidence that the inquiry would be able to get to truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday was at "all all-time low".

"We have fully co-operated with this inquiry and had hoped to see a conclusion to the events of Bloody Sunday.

"But now we are seeing that any rulings this international inquiry is making are being undermined by the British judiciary in London."

Court's ruling

In their ruling, two High Court judges said that the tribunal's conclusion that the soldiers had no reasonable fears for their safety was "erronious and gave rise to procedural unfairness in relation to the soldier witnesses".

The confidence of the families in the tribunal findings is obviously of great importance. So too, is the confidence of the soldier witnesses, some of whom are accused of murder

High Court ruling

The ruling said recent bomb attacks on Derry army bases at Ballykelly and Ebrington by dissident republicans showed the security risk was real.

On the issue of public confidence being affected by moving the tribunal to London, the judges dismissed that.

They said: "The confidence of the families in the tribunal findings is obviously of great importance. So too, it seems to us, is the confidence of the soldier witnesses, some of whom are accused of murder".

"Although the confidence of the people of Northern Ireland is of high importance, so too is the confidence of people of other parts of the United Kingdom. In our judgement, the tribunal ruling does not appear to have taken these matters into account."

No prosecutions

About 250 military witnesses are to be called to give evidence at the multi-million pound inquiry, which is investigating the circumstances of the killings.

The soldiers have always argued that they were fired on by IRA men before they opened fire.

This is disputed by many witnesses and relatives of those killed and injured.

Witnesses to the inquiry are immune from prosecution on issues arising from their evidence. It is aimed solely at establishing the facts about what happened.

The Bloody Sunday inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.

The new inquiry is expected to run for another two years.