THE Bloody Sunday families have “absolute” respect for each other’s views on whether former soldiers should be prosecuted, according to a brother of one of the men who was shot dead.
While some relatives have not sought prosecutions, others want the soldiers who killed their loved ones charged with murder.
There are also different views on whether retired soldiers should serve prison sentences should they be found guilty.
The decision on whether any former soldiers will be prosecuted will be announced on Thursday.
Two men who bore the surname McKinney - although unrelated - were killed on Bloody Sunday.
The family of Gerard McKinney, a 35-year-old father of eight, are on record as saying that while the law should take its course, they will not worry if their father’s killer is not prosecuted.
His daughter, Regina McLaughlin, has frequently said her life is not governed by what will happen on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Mickey McKinney - whose brother Willie was 27 years old and working as a compositor with The Derry Journal when he was shot dead - is adamant that the former soldier responsible should be brought to justice.
He believes he has a duty to his late brother and family to see the legal process to its conclusion.
“It matters. The soldier killed my brother and showed no remorse, even at the Saville Inquiry. On the night of Bloody Sunday, the British government told lies about my brother after he was shot dead. They sent their lies around the world and we had to chase those lies for 40 years,” he said.
Mr McKinney said by killing his brother and lying about him in Widgery, the state tried to make him a “non-person”.
“I’m not going to let them do that, to treat Willie differently from anyone else.”
He recalled how on the 25th anniversary of his brother’s death, he found his mother crying in the kitchen of her home.
“She said to me ‘I tried not to let you see me crying but it never gets any easier. But I didn’t want to send any of my sons into the IRA over Willie’s death’. My parents never got over Willie being killed."
His parents have now both passed away and Mr McKinney said his determination that the soldier be brought to justice was for his parents as much as for his brother.
However, the Derry man added that he respects the views of other families who might not share his stance.
“There are many different views but the families have absolutely stood together in solidarity for nearly 50 years and I believe that will continue,” he said.
