'Soldier F' to Appear In Court 53 Years Later - Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied!
On the 30th of January 1972, British troops shot dead thirteen unarmed demonstrators participating in a Civil Rights march in Derry. Another fifteen people were shot and wounded, one of whom later died from his injuries.
Over fifty-three years later, the trial of ‘Soldier F’ will begin in a non-jury court in Belfast, with his identity being protected as he will be behind a curtain for the whole trial.
The trial will see him face charges for the murder of James Wray and William McKinney, as well as five attempted murders, namely of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon, Patrick O’Donnell and a person unknown. One British soldier. One token prosecution.
Far from accepting any semblance of responsibility for the actions of its forces in Derry on Bloody Sunday, the British state remains totally committed to defending the indefensible.
Catholic priest Edward Daly waving a blood-stained white handkerchief as a white flag while trying in vain to escort the mortally wounded Jackie Duddy to safety.
While ‘Soldier F’ may have indeed fired the shots which murdered Jim Wray and William McKinney, and which also wounded Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick McDonnell, he did not act on his own or against the orders of his superiors.
Political cover for those senior British officers and their actions was provided by the then British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, and his fellow government ministers. Over fifty years later the British political class is again rallying to support their ‘boy’s and their murderous actions.
Derry’s Bloody Sunday, just like the Ballymurphy and Springhill Massacres in Belfast, was a very deliberate and planned military attack on unarmed and totally defenceless civilians that was approved at highest levels within the British military and political establishments.
And just as has occurred all over the world, no senior British military officer and no senior British political figure will ever have to fear prosecution for their war-crimes.