A court in Belfast is scheduled to deliver its judgment this Thursday regarding the sole British soldier facing murder charges connected to the "Bloody Sunday" killings that took place in Northern Ireland in 1972. The incident resulted in the deaths of 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers. The soldier, legally identified only as Soldier F, stands accused of two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder, stemming from the moment when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the predominantly Irish nationalist city of Londonderry. The killings marked the deadliest shooting episode during the three decades of sectarian violence that involved nationalists pushing for a united Ireland, unionists seeking to maintain the UK province, and the British military. A comprehensive peace deal reached in 1998 brought the bloodshed largely to an end, reports The WP Times with reference to Reuters.
The legal proceedings, heard without a jury, lasted for one month. Soldier F had previously entered a plea of not guilty to all seven charges and opted not to give evidence during the trial. Defence counsel chose not to call any witnesses, arguing that the military statements taken over 50 years ago were inherently unreliable and lacked independent supporting evidence to bolster the prosecution's case.
Earlier in the trial, the court reviewed a brief statement provided by Soldier F to the police in 2016. In that statement, the soldier affirmed his belief that he had properly discharged his duties on that day. However, he also admitted that he no longer possessed any reliable recollection of the events, rendering him unable to answer the questions posed by the officers. The British government formally issued an apology for the killings in 2010, labelling the acts as "unjustified and unjustifiable," after a comprehensive judicial inquiry determined that all victims were innocent and posed no threat to the military personnel involved.
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