POLICE IN NORTHERN Ireland will launch a murder inquiry into the victims of Bloody Sunday in the New Year.
The investigation comes 41 years after 13 people were shot dead by British soldiers in Derry on 30 January 1972 and a fourteenth person died several months later in hospital.
The PSNI today met with a delegation in Derry representing some of the victims and their families and were told about the appointment of a Senior Investigating Officer from the Serious Crime Branch and the allocation of resources to create an investigation team which will begin work in the New Year.
The investigation has been sanctioned following a review of the landmark Saville Inquiry, published in 2010, which found that the people who had been killed by soldiers had been attending a civil rights march and had not been armed.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, the PSNI said they are now asking for witnesses to come forward who gave evidence to the Saville Inquiry because they are precluded from using Saville testimony in a criminal investigation.
Police said they will also give updates to surviving victims and all the families who lost relatives on Bloody Sunday throughout the investigation which will be lengthy and complex. Earlier in the year, the PSNI has said the inquiry could last up to four years and will involve up to 30 officers.
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