Campaign ‘not finished yet’, say Bloody Sunday families

Reacting to the PPS decision to only prosecute one former soldier for murder and attempted murder, John Kelly, whose 17-year-old brother Michael was killed, said many had received a “terrible disappointment”.

But he welcomed the positive news for the six families impacted by the decision to prosecute soldier F.

“Their victory is our victory,” he told the Press Association.

“We have walked a long journey since our fathers and brothers were brutally slaughtered on the streets of Derry on Bloody Sunday, over that passage of time all the parents of the deceased have died. We are here to take their place.”

Mr Kelly highlighted there were legal means of challenging the decisions not to prosecute.

“The Bloody Sunday families are not finished yet,” he said.

A statement issued by the Bloody Sunday families described the decision to prosecute one soldier as “vindication of our decades-long campaign to clear the names of our loved ones and to bring those responsible for their deaths and injuries to justice.”

“The full cost of Bloody Sunday cannot be measured just in terms of those who suffered that day but must also be measured in terms of those who suffered because of that terrible day,” the statement said.

“When the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign was launched in 1992 we had three clear demands – to have the Widgery whitewash overturned and replaced by an independent inquiry; to gain a formal acknowledgement of the innocence of all our loved ones, and to prosecute those responsible. With today’s news, we now achieve our third aim.

“However, we have also faced the disappointing news that in some cases there will not be prosecutions, and we are mindful of those families who received that news today.

“We would like to remind everyone that no prosecution, or if it comes to it, no conviction, does not mean not guilty. It does not mean that no crime was committed. It does not mean that those soldiers acted “in a dignified and appropriate way.”

The statement continued: “The passage of time has made charges difficult in this case, and in other cases. But the passage of time should not be used as a form of blanket immunity to block proper investigations. Everyone deserves justice, including those whose loved ones were murdered by the British state. There can be no statute of limitations used to deny justice, no new laws to protect state killers.

“But, for us here today, it is important to point out that justice for one family is justice for all of us. We stand in full solidarity with those of us whose loved-one’s death or injury has not been included in the announcement of prosecutions. We also stand in complete solidarity with the hundreds of families who have had to endure decades without an inquest, without a criminal investigation and who have been left to struggle for their basic human right to justice. We hope our campaign continues to be an inspiration to them.”

Calling for further investigations and prosecutions, the statement added: “We maintain that key individuals in the army, in politics and beyond, should also be held to account for their actions on that day and afterwards. This affront must also be rectified if justice is to be truly done, and seen to be done.

“If the police officer in charge on the day of the Hillsborough tragedy can face prosecution then so too can those who were in charge on Bloody Sunday. There cannot be one law for the military and political elite and one law for others.”

The families have called on those responsible for administering the next stage of the prosecution process to “move with all speed to bring this to a conclusion.”

The statement concluded: “The dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so for them. We have cried out for them for many years, and now we have succeeded for them. Do not deny us justice any longer.”