The leading Mid-Ulster loyalist Mark Fulton claimed in a petition that he had done more to achieve decommissioning than "all the politicians, the two Prime Ministers and President Clinton", the High Court in Belfast heard yesterday.
The petition, dated May 1999, in which he asked the former Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, to transfer him from Maghaberry Prison to the Maze so he could continue his decommissioning work with the LVF, was read out in court.
His request was turned down and yesterday he applied for a judicial review of the Prison Service's decision.
Fulton (39), formerly of Hobson Park, Portadown, who is serving a four-and-a-half year sentence in Maghaberry for firearms offences, said he had been told the real reason the prison authorities would not transfer him was that they were not prepared to take the chance of another embarrassing murder like that of his close friend Billy Wright.
Fulton said in his petition to Dr Mowlam that the LVF was the first group to start decommissioning and added that due to "the current deadlock in the process it is vital that I be moved to M6 at the Maze to carry on discussions on this issue".
He said the contacts he had made before being jailed would not visit him in Maghaberry because of the virtual solitary confinement in which he was being held. Fulton is locked up 21 hours a day for his own protection. A medical report submitted on his behalf stated this was causing a deterioration in his mental health.
His application was supported by a lawyer for the Human Rights Commission, but was opposed by the Prison Service, whose lawyer said the rules had been lawfully applied.
Judgment was reserved by Mr Justice Kerr, who said it was an interesting case not only for the issues it raised, but also because of the Human Rights Act due to come into force later this year.