The dissident republican at the centre of an alleged IRA kidnap plot yesterday stormed out of a courtroom where he faced a threat-to-kill charge.
Mr Bobby Tohill (46), claimed he had been framed, as he resisted police attempts to keep him in the dock at Belfast Magistrates Court.
Mr Tohill walked out - but remained in custody - after a detective denied he was arrested because he had refused to make a statement about the suspected abduction which provoked a political crisis in Northern Ireland.
The court also heard that the former INLA prisoner gave a scathing assessment of the police investigation into his case to the ceasefire commission brought in to examine whether the Provisionals were behind the attempted kidnapping in February.
In a dossier of ongoing paramilitary shootings, beatings and bombings, rushed out last month because of the furore over the Tohill case, the Independent Monitoring Commission backed Chief Constable Hugh Orde's claim that the IRA planned the operation which led to him being dragged from a city centre bar.
When brought into court, Mr Tohill was accused of threatening to kill a man named as Mr Patrick Ward on March 27th.
He was also charged with possessing a real or imitation gun and with going into a west Belfast tower block armed with a pistol and a baton with intent to cause Mr Ward grievous bodily harm.
Mr Tohill made no reply when charged with the first offence and stated "No" when the other two were put to him.
Holding a newspaper, Mr Tohill listened as a detective sergeant insisted he could connect him with the alleged offences.
During cross-examination, defence solicitor, Mr Shane O'Neill, asked the sergeant if he was aware that Mr Ward had made two retraction statements.
The detective confirmed he knew of one withdrawal, as he had recorded it.
He was unaware that police had stopped Mr Tohill twice since the alleged offences.
Mr O'Neill then challenged the sergeant: "Has the police decision to charge Mr Tohill been related to his refusal to make a statement to the police in respect of his alleged abduction?"
The sergeant replied: "No."
The kidnapping incident dealt a blow to attempts to restore Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive, which was suspended 18 months earlier because of an alleged IRA spy-ring.
Outraged unionists demanded tough sanctions against Sinn Féin after Mr Orde blamed the IRA for the abduction.
In response, the IMC brought forward its first report on paramilitary activity and included a section on the Tohill case in which it pointed the finger at the Provisionals.
Even though the detective denied the charges were in any way related to the kidnapping incident, Mr O'Neill pressed ahead with his questioning.
"Has the decision to charge Mr Tohill also not been related to his recent statement to the IMC, in which he criticises the police and indeed believes their whole handling of the alleged abduction has been designed to embarrass nationalist groups?" he asked.
At that point the accused man walked out, declaring: "I'm not listening to that.
"It's a set-up, a political frame-up."
In his absence, Resident Magistrate Harry McKibben remanded him in custody until May 28th. - (PA)