A bid by the Bloody Sunday inquiry to overturn a ruling that hundreds of former British soldiers will not have to give evidence in Derry has begun in the Court of Appeal.
Last month, two High Court judges overturned a decision by the inquiry tribunal that the witnesses must attend in person at the Guildhall. The soldiers wish to give evidence by video because they fear reprisal attacks.
The High Court judges said last month the issue should be sent back to the tribunal "for reconsideration in the light of the terms of this judgment".
Lord Justice Rose, sitting with Mr Justice Sullivan, said the tribunal had misdirected itself in law as to the legal test to be applied when assessing the threshold of risk to soldier witnesses from terrorist reprisals.
Instead of asking whether there was "a real possibility of risk", it had asked whether the soldiers' fears were reasonable - and had concluded, wrongly in the court's view, that they were not.
The ruling came in a test case brought by 36 military witnesses who accused the tribunal of breaching their human rights by "knowingly exposing individuals to the risk of death" despite "overriding concerns" expressed by the Ministry of Defence that they would be prime targets.
If the appeal fails, the ex-soldiers, who have already won the right to anonymity, are likely to testify in London, with a live video link-up to Derry so that the public can view the proceedings.
The inquiry's head, Lord Saville of Newdigate, had ruled out moving to the UK to hear the evidence.
PA