Judge to rule on Bloody Sunday screens challenge
A High Court judge in Belfast is today due to decide if lawyers acting for relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday could challenge a ruling by the Saville Inquiry allowing police to give evidence behind screens.
Mr Justice Kerr was ruling on an application lodged yesterday by counsel acting for the families for an appeal against the inquiry ruling.
The inquiry was due to hear evidence this week from witnesses who served in the RUC on January 30, 1972 - the day of the Bloody Sunday killings.
The officers succeeded in persuading the tribunal last week to have their identities concealed when they take the witness stand because of fears that identification could leave them open to reprisal by republican paramilitaries.
Lord Saville adjourned the tribunal yesterday to allow lawyers to go to court to seek or fight the judicial review.
A spokesman confirmed last night that today’s sitting of the inquiry would not take place and no police witnesses would be called this week until the judicial review issue is settled.
Lawyers acting for the families of 14 people killed as a result of Bloody Sunday are opposing the bid by the police officers because they argue there is no serious risk to the RUC members’ lives.
Seamus Treacy QC told the Belfast High Court the ruling could set a precedent for security force evidence in other controversial trials.
The families also feared it could be followed by moves by Army witnesses, already granted anonymity, to give evidence behind screens.
In the 30 years of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, Mr Treacy argued police officers named in some of the most high profile and controversial cases involving the security forces had not been targeted.
Christopher Clarke QC, acting on behalf of the tribunal, insisted proper weight had been given to the arguments for and against shielding the officers.
Threat assessments presented to the tribunal showed there was a risk to witnesses from Provisional IRA and dissident republican groups, he said.
Having granted anonymity to soldiers giving evidence to the inquiry and the right for them to testify in a venue outside Derry because of fears of paramilitary reprisal, he said it was incompatible to rule that police officers living in Northern Ireland should not be granted the right to give evidence behind protective screens.
