Reacting to this morning's decision of the PPS not to prosecute any of eight former members of 1 Para for committing perjury by giving false evidence on oath, Mickey McKinney, brother of William McKinney said:
"Today's decision comes as no surprise to any of the victims of Bloody Sunday.
"Each and every soldier who gave evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry had the protection of an unequivocal assurance from the Attorney General that any truthful evidence that they gave on Oath to the Inquiry, to enable that Inquiry to find the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday, could not be used against them in subsequent criminal proceedings.
"In keeping with the long established reputation of the Parachute Regiment for cowardice, and its disregard for Irish civilians of any denomination during the conflict here, that opportunity was spurned without exception.
"In particular, today's decision is difficult to reconcile with the firm conclusion reached more than once by His Honour Judge Lynch, who having conducted a painstaking analysis of the evidence given by Soldier H to both the Widgery Inquiry in 1972 and Bloody Sunday Inquiry in 2003, that Soldier H had in fact perjured himself on both occasions.
"More than 15 years have passed since detailed submissions were served on the PPS by our lawyers following their consideration of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry's findings. The delay in investigating the false evidence given and in arriving at today's decision has been outrageous.
"Today we have instructed our lawyers to consider this decision with the view to commencing yet another legal challenge to today's decision which effectively protects these unashamed professional liars and murderers from being held accountable."
You must be logged in to post a comment.