British ex-soldier pleads not guilty to Bloody Sunday killings

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AFP) — A former British soldier on Friday pleaded not guilty to murdering two men during the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, one of the most significant events in Northern Ireland's decades-long conflict.

The ex-paratrooper, identified only as "Soldier F," applied to have the case against him dismissed, but a judge at Belfast Crown Court on Friday dismissed his claim.

He is charged with murdering two civilians, James Wray and William McKinney, and the attempted murder of five others during the crackdown on a civil rights protest in Londonderry — also known as Derry — more than half a century ago.

Hidden from public view by a large curtain, the former soldier replied "not guilty" when each of the seven charges was put to him on Friday. A date for his trial will be decided early in 2025.

McKinney's brother Mickey said outside court: "We are very pleased that Soldier F's application was refused."

But he added: "We are disappointed however that the trial judge has granted his application for anonymity and screening."

State apology

Bloody Sunday helped galvanize support for the Provisional IRA the main militia fighting for a united Ireland.

It was one of the bloodiest incidents in the conflict known as the "Troubles," which ended with peace accords in 1998.

Northern Irish prosecutors first recommended Soldier F stand trial in 2019. It dropped the case after the collapse of the trial of several other ex-soldiers, before reopening it in 2022.

The case has proved deeply divisive in the U.K.-run province, where the decades of sectarian violence that began in the 1960s continue to cast a long shadow.

British troops opened fire on a civil rights demonstration in the majority Catholic Bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second-largest city, on Jan. 30, 1972, killing 13 people.

A 14th victim later died of his wounds.

A 12-year public inquiry — the largest investigation in U.K. legal history -- concluded in 2010 that British paratroopers had lost control and none of the casualties posed a threat of causing death or serious injury.

The probe prompted then-Prime Minister David Cameron to issue a formal state apology for the killings, calling them "unjustified and unjustifiable."

Northern Irish police then began a murder investigation into Bloody Sunday and finally submitted their files to prosecutors in 2016.

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By Agence France-Presse