A nationalist leader opposed to Drumcree Orangemen marching down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown lost a long-running compensation battle against the RUC yesterday.
Mr Breandan MacCionnaith claimed the police were guilty of bringing a malicious prosecution when they charged him with blocking the contentious route during the 1995 parade.
But his claim for damages was dismissed in the High Court in Belfast.
Mr Justice Kerr said it had not been established to the requisite standard that the obstruction charge was motivated by malice.
Mr MacCionnaith, spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition, lost his original claim at Craigavon County Court and appealed to the High Court last January.
In a reserved judgement, Mr Justice Kerr said there had been disturbances after the parade and a number of loyalists had been prosecuted.
He said it was Mr MacCionnath's case that pressure was put on the police and prosecuting authorities to charge those, like himself, who initially opposed the parade.
The judge recalled that the obstruction charge against Mr MacCionnaith had been dismissed after a magistrate described the evidence against him as "nebulous and flimsy".
Mr Justice Kerr agreed the evidence was "not strong" but said: "I cannot conclude that it was so weak as to allow the inference to be drawn that the prosecuting authorities did not entertain an honest belief that the appellant was guilty."