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The former foreign secretary has slammed the court's decision to charge the four former paratroopers, insisting the soldiers were serving up against IRA "bomb throwers". Mr Johnson said the soldiers killed the protestors because they thought it was in their "duty" at the time, serving under the orders of the Parachute Regiment. Writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph, he said: "Yes, it feels sickening that we are persecuting these elderly men for doing what they thought was their duty – in uniform, under orders, as members of the Parachute Regiment.

Mr Johnson said it was unfair to persecute the men decades later for a "misjudgment" they had made under "pressure of the moment". He added: ”Yes it seems brutal and unfair that we should send them there as young men, require them to keep order in dangerous and volatile circumstances – and then penalise them decades later for a misjudgement they may have made in the pressure of the moment. "Never forget that vital moral distinction: these men were not terrorists."

Boris Johnson has blasted the Bloody Sunday murder trial

Mr Johnson insisted the soldiers were being treated unfairly compared to IRA terrorists, who avoided jail under the Good Friday Agreement despite committing mass killings. He added: "They did not get up in the morning with the intention of killing and maiming innocent civilians. What kind of a world is it – you may ask – where we can put former squaddies in the dock for murder, and simultaneously tell IRA killers that they can get away with it? "Are we really proposing to send old soldiers to die in jail – after we gave dozens of wanted terrorists a get-out-of-jail-free card under the Good Friday Agreement? Is that balanced? Is that fair?"

In 1972, 14 civilians and another 14 were wounded when 1 Para troops fired at demonstrators

He added: "No – if these men are put on trial for murder, it will be an absolute outrage not because they are old, and may die in jail; not because Bloody Sunday took place 47 years ago; not because they were serving soldiers up against bomb throwers." In 1972, 14 civilians and another 14 were wounded when troops from 1 Para fired at demonstrators in the Bogside area of Londonderry. Mr Johnson also declared there was insufficient evidence at the time to convict the four men, and blasted the trial for having a political agenda rather than putting the men to justice.

Mr Johnson insisted the soldiers were being treated unfairly compared to IRA terrorists