Defrosting Cold Cases

David Cameron

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain offered an extraordinary apology for the 1972 killings of unarmed demonstrators by British troops in Northern Ireland, saying that a long-awaited investigation had left no doubt that the “Bloody Sunday” shootings were “both unjustified and unjustifiable.”

“On behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry,” Mr. Cameron said in a speech before Parliament. “What happened should never, ever have happened.”

The 5,000-page report is the product of one of the longest and most expensive public inquiries in Britain’s history, but questions remain about whether it will serve to heal or reopen wounds from the violent events on Jan. 30, 1972, when British soldiers fired on a civil rights march in the city of Londonderry, killing 14 people.

Photograph CNN

The event triggered three decades of bitter and sectarian strife in Northern Island, known as the Troubles, which claimed more than 3,600 lives. Especially fraught is the question of whether any soldiers — who have maintained they fired in self-defense — could face prosecution nearly four decades after the shooting.

Mr. Cameron said the report concluded that British troops had fired first and without warning, and that none of those killed and wounded had been armed. Mr. Cameron said that some republican paramilitary members had fired shots, but he said their actions did not justify firing on civilians.

The inquiry, led by Lord Saville, took evidence from some 2,500 people between 1998 and 2004. The final cost of some $290 million made it Britain’s most expensive inquiry and it was among the longest in British history.

The investigation was initiated by former Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of the maneuvering that led to the formal peace agreement called the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

Categories: Miscarriages of Justice, Miscellaneous