KIERAN BAKER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: In 1996, Billy Wright formed the Loyalist Volunteer Force. He was a Protestant. He was against the peace process, so he always stood for the most intangible part of the whole conflict in Northern Ireland. He stood firm, fighting for his belief that the Protestants, British Protestants should remain part of the United Kingdom, that's what he believed in and that's what he was always willing to fight for. And three INLA members, this is the extremist Irish Catholic group, a splinter group from the IRA, had had access to a handgun, and he was shot five times through a police van, inside the Maze prison. When Billy Wright died, his colleague, his fellow paramilitary, immediately avenged his death. It led to one of the most pivotal points in the peace process. People were having to come together to assess: Was this worth it? Billy Wright's death did not have an immediate impact, but its obvious impact was the fact that, by the killings that came straight afterwards, there was realization that the actual political situation had to change. People had to make an effort, or else this violence was going to continue. That effort finally came in Easter 1998, with the Good Friday Agreement.
CNN 20: Billy Wright is Killed, December 27, 1997