LONDON - Martin McGuinness is to admit to the Bloody Sunday inquiry that he was an IRA commander in Londonderry when British paratroops killed 14 people in the city in 1972.
The Sinn Fein politician who is now Minister for Education in Northern Ireland's cross-community Government is to say he was IRA adjutant, in effect the second-in-command, in the city, but is to strenuously deny that IRA gunmen opened fire that day.
He has been under pressure for months to give evidence at the tribunal, which has heard an allegation that he fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday. In denying this, he is also expected to give a detailed account of his role on one of the most controversial days in recent Irish history.
His decision to give evidence must have been sanctioned by the IRA's most senior leaders. Some observers argue that his appearance may have a significance beyond the inquiry itself, viewing it as an indication by the IRA that it now regards its terrorist war as being over and on the point of being consigned to history.
The formal revelation that McGuinness was an IRA leader will shock no one, given that he served two jail sentences for IRA membership in the republic in the 1970s. Scarcely a year has gone by in the past decade without Unionist accusations that he held the post of chief-of-staff or other positions within the IRA.
None the less, the public spectacle of the Sinn Fein leader confirming at least some of the details of his terrorist past will carry great force, not least because of his present office as Minister for Education.
He has never sought to hide his militant past, partly because it has been so obvious. But until now he has refused to be more explicit because any admission of IRA membership might have led to his being arrested and charged. The inquiry affords privilege that rules out such a prosecution.
The Westminster MP for Mid-Ulster is working on a statement that will be delivered soon to the inquiry.
- INDEPENDENT
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