Army veterans have been ‘stitched up and sold down the river’ after being investigated over their alleged involvement in Bloody Sunday 47 years ago, a comrade claimed last night.
Police began the criminal probe in the wake of the 12-year, £200million inquiry led by Lord Saville, which concluded in 2010 that soldiers from the Parachute Regiment had ‘lost control’ during a civil rights march, causing the ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ deaths of 14 civilians.
Eighteen former paratroopers were under investigation, but one has died.
The elderly men fear being charged with murder this month in connection with the shootings in Londonderry in 1972, and they could also be charged with attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and perjury.
Police began the criminal probe in the wake of the 12-year, £200million inquiry led by Lord Saville, which concluded in 2010 that soldiers from the Parachute Regiment had ‘lost control’ during a civil rights march, causing the ‘unjustified and unjustifiable’ deaths of 14 civilians
Eighteen former paratroopers were under investigation, but one has died.
One now in his late seventies, who served with 1 Para in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday but did not fire his rifle, says senior officers had let soldiers be sacrificed.
Insisting troops returned fire after they were shot at first, he added: ‘Those in the firing line facing potential prosecution are all soldiers. Where are the officers? Officers who encourage soldiers to step forward and give evidence have stood back and allowed them to be stitched up and sold down the river by the system which only cares about political correctness.’
He said veterans were being ‘relentlessly hunted’ by the ‘politically correct mob’, while terrorists behind the Birmingham pub bombings were not, even though their identities are known.
Lord Saville granted anonymity to every soldier who fired a shot on Bloody Sunday – January 30, 1972 – following a campaign led by the Daily Mail. But the ex-paratroopers fear they will be identified if charged. One veteran identified as Sergeant O faces two possible charges of attempted murder after firing into the air and hitting masonry that may have injured two civilians below.
He told The Daily Telegraph: ‘I am in my late seventies. I am in God’s waiting room. There is not a lot they can do to me.’
But he admitted: ‘It is a worry. It just niggles away.’
Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded troops in Afghanistan, told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘The actions of the Army were not good, but to single out a group of OAPs after all this time is grossly unfair.’
The elderly men fear being charged with murder this month in connection with the shootings in Londonderry in 1972, and they could also be charged with attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and perjury
'HALT THE SICKENING ARMY WITCH-HUNTS'
Former soldiers could soon be covered by a ten-year limit protecting them from prosecution for alleged historic abuses.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the prospect of elderly veterans being dragged to court ‘completely turns the stomach of the British people’.
He insisted the Government had to ‘do something to make sure our soldiers and veterans have the protection they deserve’, and is pushing for the cap on charging former service personnel with alleged offences committed on duty.
The move is designed to tackle fury in the military at what Mr Williamson claims is a ‘witch hunt’ by prosecutors dredging up historic cases from Northern Ireland and elsewhere.
The Defence Secretary reacted angrily to reports at the weekend that four former paratroopers in their sixties and seventies face murder charges this month over the deaths of Bloody Sunday protesters in 1972.
He now aims to fast-track plans to impose a presumption against prosecuting veterans for alleged offences committed more than a decade ago.
There will also be a new rule requiring the consent of the Attorney General before any prosecution can be brought.
Geoffrey Cox, the current Attorney General, will publish advice setting out the level of evidence required to show that a prosecution is both viable and in the public interest.
The measures have been held up by wrangling between the Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office, and were further knocked off course by the Brexit gridlock paralysing the Government.
But Whitehall sources said last night that Mr Williamson was pushing for the changes to be included in the Queen’s Speech this summer.
They also conceded that the proposed protections would make no difference to any cases that are already being considered by prosecutors in Northern Ireland. Some 28 civilians were shot by soldiers on Bloody Sunday during a civil rights march in Londonderry 47 years ago.
Thirteeen were killed on the day, with another man dying of his injuries five months later.
There have been several inquiries into the incident. But 17 ex-soldiers remain under investigation over the shootings, including one man of 77.
Prosecutors in Northern Ireland are due to meet victims and their families on March 14 to tell them the results of the latest police investigation.
Any attempt to bring charges almost 50 years on will provoke a political storm on this side of the Irish Sea. The Mail has been campaigning against a witch-hunt against British troops.
A source told The Daily Telegraph: ‘There are four soldiers most at risk of being charged with murder. I fear prosecutors will throw the book at everybody and see what sticks.’
Prosecutors are also said to be considering charges of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and perjury against some of those involved.
If convicted of murder, the former paratroopers would face life in prison. In contrast, however, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, terrorists subsequently convicted of atrocities during the Troubles can only be imprisoned for a maximum of two years.
Whitehall sources said the outcome of the police investigation against the British former soldiers was not known.
Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service dismissed media reports suggesting knowledge of the likely outcome of its deliberations on the Londonderry killings. It said that speculating on the fate of any British troops under investigation was likely to cause ‘significant and undue distress’.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/04/army-veterans-probed-over-bloody-sunday-have-been-stitched-up-and-sold-down-the-river/
Main photo article Army veterans have been ‘stitched up and sold down the river’ after being investigated over their alleged involvement in Bloody Sunday 47 years ago, a comrade claimed last night.
Police began the criminal probe in the wake of the 12-year, £200million inquiry led by Lord Saville, which concluded i...
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Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/04/01/10537426-0-image-a-8_1551663861054.jpg
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