The news was first broken to the relatives of the victims during a private briefing in Derry this morning at 10 am by senior PPS officials in Derry’s City Hotel.
An hour later, the decision to prosecute the soldiers was announced to the media at an 11 briefing in The Guildhall.
The PPS said it will prosecute Soldier F with the murders of James Wray and William McKinney and the attempted murders of four others – Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’Donnell.
It said today that there was insufficient evidence to charge other soldiers with murders or attempted murders.
The PPS also announced that two former members of the Official IRA will also not face charges.
This morning hundreds of people are marched alongside Bloody Sunday families through the City Centre as they went to the City Hotel to find out the PPS decision on soldier prosecutions.
Many family members held up photographs of their loved ones, while others carry a banner declaring: ‘Towards Justice.’
A number of political representatives have joined the march, including SDLP leader Colm Eastwood, Sinn Féin leader in the North Michelle O’Neill, local councillors and local Sinn Fein MP Elisha McCallion.
During the march, The families paused to sing a verse of ‘We Shall Overcome.’
The PPS has been considering if the evidential test for prosecution has been met based on ballistics, witness evidence and statements the soldiers made in the aftermath of the killings to Royal Military Police.
Following the Saville Inquiry, the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch carried out a separate probe into the murders before submitting files to the PPS.
Members of the Parachute Regiment also gave oral evidence to the Widgery tribunal and made statements in 1972 to the Treasury Solicitors Department, a government body that provided legal services to the Ministry of Defence.
Soldiers who gave evidence to Lord Saville during the Bloody Sunday Inquiry were granted anonymity and assured if they incriminated themselves it could not be used in any subsequent criminal proceedings.
However, none of the soldiers incriminated themselves to Lord Saville, most claiming to have little or no recollection of events on the day when 13 people were shot dead, a 14th person dying months later from his injuries.
Soldier G who shot 22-year-old Jim Wray in the back as he lay on the ground injured at Glenfada Park, and is thought to have shot dead father-of-eight Gerry McKinney, has since died.
Soldier O, who has given a number of interviews to the BBC, controversially disputing Saville’s findings and maintaining it was a “job well done” is not expected to face prosecution.
Soldier F, who it has been previously alleged was linked to a number of shootings on Bloody Sunday, is among those expected to face charges.
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