Landmark trial begins for British soldier accused of Bloody Sunday murders

The first ever trial of a former British soldier accused of murder over the Bloody Sunday massacre has begun in Belfast — in a landmark moment for Northern Ireland.

The ex-paratrooper — identified only as Soldier F — faces two murder and five attempted murder charges over the 1972 atrocity, one of the most significant events in the three-decade "Troubles" that plagued the British territory.

He has pleaded not guilty and last year applied to have the case against him dismissed but a judge rejected his claim.

The case has proven deeply divisive in Northern Ireland, where the decades of sectarian violence that began in the 1960s still cast a long shadow.

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