The tribunal of three judges set up by the British government to inquire into the Bloody Sunday killings is seeking an undertaking from the British Attorney General that nothing said to the inquiry, either before or during the oral hearings, could be used in criminal proceedings against that person.
A solicitor for the family of one of the 13 men shot dead in Derry in January 1972 said yesterday he was disappointed at the decision.
The tribunal's chairman, Lord Saville of Newdigate said it was the families' "view that such an undertaking would afford special protection to servants and agents of the state who may have murdered innocent civilians. However, the tribunal's view is that this undertaking would not provide any special protection. Without such an undertaking, any witness would be able to exercise a privilege against self-incrimination. With the undertaking, the witness does not have the right to refuse to answer on these grounds."
The tribunal chairman said the proposal, if granted, would not provide immunity from prosecution.
But Mr Greg McCartney, solicitor for the family of victim Jim Wray, claimed it would be a form of immunity. "If this proposal is granted, it means that if a soldier admits to the inquiry that he killed someone on Bloody Sunday, that admission cannot be used on its own for prosecution purposes.
"It means that a soldier can admit to murder but that admission cannot be used against him. That admission cannot see the light of day in another court. This is, I believe, immunity from prosecution in another guise," Mr McCartney said.
The tribunal also announced that the hearing of witness evidence would not take place until next September because of the amount of written statements already submitted.