Bloody Sunday solders' names to go on Internet


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

source - owner-ireland_list@email.rutgers.edu  Sat Jun  5 01:05:07 1999


Electronic Telegraph (London)
Friday 4 June 1999

Bloody Sunday soldiers' names to go on Internet
By Toby Harnden, Ireland Correspondent 

THE full names of more than 450 former soldiers interviewed by the
Bloody Sunday Inquiry will go on the Internet unless the decision to
deny witnesses anonymity is overturned in the High Court next week.

The text of all their statements will be made public, allowing the IRA
to identify those who played key roles. Addresses could be found from
electoral registers or through credit agencies.

Tony Blair has said he is powerless to intervene, but George Robertson,
the Defence Secretary, has said anonymity should be granted. The
possible risk to life was spelt out to all potential military witnesses
by the Treasury Solicitor, acting for the Ministry of Defence on behalf
of the soldiers, in a letter sent on Tuesday and headed: "Confidential,
Privileged and Urgent."

Some 380 former soldiers have given statements to Eversheds, the
solicitors acting for the inquiry team, with up to 100 more due in the
next five weeks. More than 600 civilian witnesses present in
Londonderry on Jan 30 1972, when 13 people were shot dead by the Army,
have also been interviewed. 

The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by The Telegraph, said:
"Every statement taken by Eversheds will contain the full name of the
witness. That statement will, in due course, be copied to the advisers
of the families of the dead and wounded and made available to the press
and public. It will probably also be put on the Internet at a later
stage . . . it cannot be assumed that only those closely connected with
the Inquiry will be interested in the publicised information."

A former member of the Coldstream Guards who was in Londonderry on
Bloody Sunday said: "We're being sold down the river. It was bad enough
risking my neck during eight tours in Northern Ireland. I'm not doing
it again. I was supposed to be interviewed by Eversheds but I didn't
turn up after getting this letter. This may mean the truth won't get
out but I've got to think of myself and my family's safety. Somebody's
going to die because of this."
 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytire-06.06.99-11:53:31-29453