The recent decision by the Northern Ireland Prosecution Service not to prosecute fifteen former British soldiers and one civilian for perjury concerning their testimony during the Bloody Sunday Inquiry is yet another attack on the universally accepted standards of justice and a continuing denial of the fundamental human rights of the victims and their families.
The lies told by these men were not harmless fibs; they slandered the names of innocent victims and their families, they covered up killings which former British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted forty years later were “unjustified and unjustifiable.” These lies led to an escalation of the Northern Ireland conflict and countless other killings and suffering.
For the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to claim there is “insufficient” evidence to pursue perjury charges is an insult to the world’s intelligence. One does not need fingerprints, DNA, or advanced forensics to determine perjury, just the facts and a willingness to acknowledge them. It is ludicrous to believe that there were enough facts to motivate the Prime Minister to state that the killings of Bloody Sunday were “unjustified and unjustifiable,” and yet those same facts can not be used to indict those who claimed that the actions of 1st Parachute Regiment on that day were justifiable. To say that there is no prospect of a conviction bespeaks a lack of competence or a lack of will on the part of the PPS. We believe it is the latter.
By not addressing these perjuries, the British government continues its campaign to airbrush from history its role during the darkest days of Northern Ireland’s past. The PPS decision contradicts the accountability promised by the British government in 2010 when it agreed with the Saville Inquiry’s findings. The decision repudiates Britain’s previous commitments to reconciliation under the Good Friday Agreement and other treaties. Following the adoption of the “Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act,” it is yet another example of a two-tier justice system, the sort of justice system that the U.S. has loudly denounced in Russia, China, and the Middle East.
In light of these developments, the Ancient Order of Hibernians urges the United States to demand a review of this decision and to hold the British government accountable for its commitments to justice and the Good Friday Agreement in which the United States played such a pivotal role. The Ancient Order of Hibernians stands firmly with the families still grappling with the loss of their loved ones and calls for a transparent reevaluation of the evidence against the backdrop of acknowledged truth.