Anger as Derry man is sentenced over Bloody Sunday Inquiry

BY FERN LANE

In one of the most profound ironies of the whole Bloody Sunday Inquiry, a Derry republican has been sentenced to three months imprisonment for refusing to appear before the Tribunal. The decision was met with dismay by the Bloody Sunday families, amongst others. John Kelly, brother of Michael, who was killed on the day, told The Derry Journal that "for an innocent Derry man to be the first and possibly only person to be jailed for what happened on Bloody Sunday is a scandal" and called on Lord Saville to reverse his decision.

Saville had ruled Martin Doherty — referred to by the Inquiry as PIRA 9 — was in contempt of a summons ordering him to appear to give evidence. The sentence was imposed by Belfast High Court last Friday, although at the time of writing the PNSI has not been issued with an order to arrest Doherty. It also appears that a fresh summons to appear before the Tribunal may be issued after the sentence and that Doherty could face further legal action.

Doherty was originally called to given evidence on the basis of the statement given by the informer Paddy Ward, who claims that he witnessed Doherty take part in 'gun battle' on Bloody Sunday. However, Ward's evidence was comprehensively taken apart during the Tribunal and much of it revealed to be the work of a fantasist. Doherty's legal counsel referred to it as "a farrago of falsehoods" and Ward's claims of being a leading member of the Fianna at the time of Bloody Sunday were greeted with incomprehension by other witnesses with experience of the group.

Doherty refused to appear before Saville because he insists that he was not present at Bloody Sunday. He told The Derry Journal that he was quite prepared to face prison rather than agree to appear before the Inquiry.

He said: "I have not spoken to the Inquiry, I will not be speaking to the Inquiry and I have no intention of speaking to them. The inquiry wants to talk to me about wild allegations made by a tout who made up more stories than enough.

"I am expected to answer allegations made by a man who supposedly saved me during a gun battle I wasn't even there for and later shot at a helicopter and he was supposed to a Fianna member at the time. These stories are nonsense. There is more sense in a goldfish and I will treat them with the contempt they deserve.

"I am an Irish republican and I firmly believe that this Inquiry is trying to make a scapegoat out of the IRA. We all know who murdered the 14 people on Bloody Sunday and it was not the IRA or the republican movement I have no evidence to give and if for that I have to go to prison then I am prepared to do so."

Martin McGuinness also criticised the decision to prosecute Doherty, saying: "That the only person to be imprisoned as a result of the murders by British Paratroopers in Derry in 1972 is a Derry republican is a clear indication of the mindset of the British judiciary in Ireland."