catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:47 pm Post subject: Bloody Sunday Inquiry Says Victims Were Innocent |
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It took 12 years, 900 witnesses and around 30 million words of written evidence to form the verdict that Liam Wray has waited more than three decades to hear. His brother, a civilian shot dead by British troops in one of Northern Ireland's worst atrocities, was innocent.
Jim Wray was one of 13 people � including six 17-year-olds � who were killed when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march in Londonderry in January 1972. Another man died of his injuries some months later. The exact events of that day have long been disputed. Soldiers claimed they had come under gunfire from protesters and had fired back in self-defense. But the families of those who died have always denied this, maintaining that it was the army who ran amok. Many families have fought for decades to clear their loved ones' names.
On Tuesday, in a packed, sun-lit square in the center of Londonderry, that moment finally arrived. A crowd of 5,000 people gathered in front of giant TV screens to watch British Prime Minister David Cameron deliver the findings of a 12-year inquiry into what became known as Bloody Sunday. In his final report, Lord Saville, the British judge who chaired the investigation, stated that all those who died were innocent, unarmed and posed no threat to the soldiers. The report describes how some victims were shot in the back as they fled from the army or were fired on as they tended to the wounded.
"What the families have said for 38 years has finally come true today," said Liam Wray, standing in front of a 12-foot-tall portrait of his brother. "The soldiers who lied about our dead relatives now have to carry that shame. We have been vindicated, the people of Derry have been vindicated and those who believe in truth and justice have been vindicated."
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