Saville Inquiry renews plea to IRA men

IRA men in Derry on Bloody Sunday when 13 unarmed Catholics were shot dead by British troops were tonight urged to testify at a tribunal into the killings.

Apart from Martin McGuinness, the Provisionals’ number two in the city when the atrocity occurred in January 1972, no others have come forward as members of the organisation.

Just before the Bloody Sunday Inquiry rose for a two-month summer recess, chairman Lord Saville issued a plea for more co-operation from paramilitaries.

He said: ‘‘We do most urgently request these people to come forward and help us.

‘‘If they do not do so it will be urged upon us ... the only inference to be drawn is that they, or the organisations in question have something that they wish to hide about their activities on Bloody Sunday.’’

Nearly 550 witnesses have already testified to the inquiry which has already cost tens of millions of pounds since it was announced more than four years ago.

A further 200 military witnesses are due to take the stand when it moves to London in the autumn.

It is expected that the investigation will sit for at least another year before it reports back some time in 2004.

With just six former Official IRA men and Mr McGuinness - now education minister in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government - agreeing to come forward, Lord Saville pleaded for greater assistance.

He stressed assurances issued to allay fears that witnesses could incriminate themselves and suggested anonymity and screening could be provided.

If more paramilitaries linked to Bloody Sunday do not emerge the inquiry’s work could be badly hindered, Lord Saville warned.

He added: ‘‘They will be doing the families of those who died and the wounded a disservice.’’

Earlier, a bid by a paratrooper who fired 22 shots on Bloody Sunday to be completely screened from public view when giving evidence to the tribunal was refused.

Regarded as one of the most central military figures in the Bogside on the day, 19 of the live rounds he discharged have yet to be accounted for.

His lawyer claimed republican terrorists could recruit a portrait artist to sketch a likeness of both him and Soldier 104 when they testify in London.

But Lord Saville said the security assessment did not merit such a move for either witness.

He said: ‘‘We see no objective justification for the expressed fears of the soldiers even assuming that such fears are genuinely held.’’

Soldiers have already been granted anonymity and have been allowed to appear before the tribunal in London rather than Derry later this year.

Although the Ministry of Defence indicated they could be vulnerable to terrorists in the public gallery using sketches to compile a photo-fit later, the inquiry rejected this view.

The ruling came two days after the inquiry ruled that two other military witnesses should be screened, citing ‘‘compelling reasons’’ which it did not disclose.

But Lord Saville pointed out other military witnesses could expect a similar ruling if they mounted a late bid to be cloaked in total secrecy.

He noted the British Ministry of Defence’s assessment meant every one of them could argue a case for being shielded from view, potentially shaking the inquiry’s openness.

He added: ‘‘The balance would have to fall on the side of refusing screening for that reason’’.