What is the Saville inquiry?
The public inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday was announced by the British prime minister, Tony Blair, in January 1998. He was responding to the persistent demands of Northern Ireland’s nationalist community and the Irish government. The inquiry convened in Derry on March 27 2000. Lord Saville’s opening speech lasted a record 42 days and there have been 432 days of oral testimony. Lord Saville and his co-judges have amassed at least 60,000 pages of written submissions. Nine hundred and twenty witnesses have given oral evidence, and there have been some 1,000 written statements from civilians, soldiers, police officers, journalists, government officials and paramilitaries. There were vexed legal arguments about the identification of military witnesses. Lord Saville wanted the former soldiers involved in the shootings to be named, but the House of Lords ruled that they were entitled to the protection of anonymity. Where was the inquiry heard? Most of the public evidence was heard i
