Jailed Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt is to challenge a decision to refuse him legal aid to fight the civil action brought against him by victims of the Omagh bomb massacre.
McKevitt's lawyers have lodged papers in the High Court in Belfast seeking a judicial review of the decision by the North's Legal Services Commission.
McKevitt, who is serving a 20-year sentence for belonging to the RIRA and directing terrorism, is being sued along with four others suspected of carrying out the RIRA atrocity in which 29 people died.
He was initially granted legal aid but last month his lawyers were informed that it had been revoked.
It was alleged that the decision to initially suspend legal aid and then withdraw it completely was "not unconnected to the widespread adverse public criticism to which the Legal Aid Department was subjected."
McKevitt's lawyers have also contrasted the decision to rescind his legal aid with the British government's grant of Stg £800,000 towards the legal costs of the Omagh Victims Civil Action Group to pursue their claim for compensation.
"There is clear inequality of arms and it is difficult to imagine a more stark example," lawyers claimed.
The papers are now in the hands of a judge who is expected to convene a hearing to consider the granting of leave before the full application for judicial review can proceed.