Northern Ireland court finds soldier not guilty of murder over Bloody Sunday killings

Family members hold pictures of victims of the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" killings as the murder trial takes place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on October 23, 2025. Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Belfast, Northern Ireland Reuters —

A Belfast court on Thursday found a British soldier not guilty of murder in the only trial of a member of the British armed forces over the 1972 “Bloody Sunday” killings of 13 unarmed Catholic civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland.

The British government in 2010 apologized for the “unjustified and unjustifiable” killings, when members of a British army regiment opened fire in the mainly Irish nationalist city of Londonderry (Derry) in one of the defining moments of Northern Ireland’s recent history .

But all efforts to prosecute soldiers have failed.