Bloody Sunday Troops Charged For 1972 Killings In Northern Ireland!

[Thursday, June 17, 2010 | ]

It's more than three decades now that justice has been long overdue.

LONDONDERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND - JUNE 15: Families of the victims of the Bloody Sunday killings in the Bogside area of Londonderry leave the Guildhall building following the announcement of the content of the Saville Report on June 15, 2010 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The long-awaited report from the Saville Inquiry, which was set up in 1998 and is estimated to have cost 191m GBP, was announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Commons today and stated that all victims were innocent. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Article by: Rumer Certeza
Photo: Getty Images

In one of Northern Ireland's tragic events known as Bloody Sunday, prosecutors had brought charges against soldiers accountable for the deaths of innocent citizens despite requests to put the 1972 issue to rest.

An apology has been issued by British Prime Minister David Cameron for the "unjustified and unjustifiable" killings of 13 people during a march in Londonderry by British soldiers back in 1972, following a long awaited Savilled report which was published Tuesday.

A date has yet to be made regarding a decision to prosecute those responsbible, although Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service has assured that the legal process would be expedited.

According to John Kelly, his late brother Michael was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, and had described the soldier who was identified by an initial in the report as a "serial killer." Not only that, the soldier was also responsible for the murders of a relative and several others.

However, a lawyer representing the troops present at the 12-year Bloody Sunday inquiry, contradicts such allegations, and believes that top judge Mark Saville was in the pressure cooker.

Says attorney Stephen Pollard, "I think Lord Saville felt under very considerable pressure after 12 years and 191 million pounds to give a report which gave very clear findings even where in truth the evidence didn't support them."

A group of six soldiers who were there during the tragedy, made themselves heard in defense of late officer Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford, widely critisized for having sent soldiers to the exact area where the killings transpired.

BBC reports that the soldiers claimed that Wilford was pointed out because a high ranking officer had to take the blame.

Besides this, there are talks for a wider body to conduct investigation on other mass killings in Northen Ireland in the three-decade span of long Troubles, that had Catholics clashing with the Protestants, resulting in a shocking 3,500 deaths.

Certain reports also revealed that Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuiness, an Irish Republican Army commander during that era, was probably armed with a sub-machine gun, which he may have fired. He instantly denied such rumors.