A senior republican has denied ordering the murder of Robert McCartney in January.
Gerard Davison also contradicted the McCartney family's claim that potential witnesses had been intimidated. He criticised the police handling of the case, claiming he was "as much a victim of circumstances as everybody else".
In an interview with Daily Ireland, Mr Davison admitted he served a prison sentence in the mid-1980s but refused to answer questions relating to the IRA.
He gave his detailed account of the events leading up to the murder of Mr McCartney and denied being involved in or knowing anything about the fatal stabbing.
He said he had not been in Derry for the Bloody Sunday commemoration, nor had he been drinking heavily in the run-up to the dispute. He said he had "resolved" the row in the bar with Mr McCartney at the time.
However, he blamed one of the murdered man's friends for causing further trouble.
"The boy who was with Robert McCartney . . . is a thug, who jumped up and attacked me. All I done was defend myself and he attacked me . . . I defended myself, and that was my sole role in that whole affair," he said.
Mr Davison sustained stab wounds to his hands and was treated at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, where he was later arrested by the PSNI.
Although released without charge, he said he may complain to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan about his treatment.
He insisted he was not outside the bar when Mr McCartney was killed: "Absolutely not . . . I went to the hospital to get my hands sorted out . . . I went to Dundonald hospital the next morning, I had nothing to hide."
Mr Davison alleged a hospital worker told him of the stabbings near the bar and said: "I still didn't make the connection until I hear them talking about their names and stuff. I was as shocked as anybody, and that's the truth."
He emphatically denied he had ordered that Mr McCartney and another man were to be attacked.
Mr Davison further said he resented accusations that he took part in the intimidation of witnesses after the incident in the bar and that he in fact "advised them to go down and get a solicitor and go and tell the truth".
He added he had never heard of one case of intimidation. "I think if you dig into it, it's non-existent in my view."
Mr Davison said he was prepared to meet the McCartney family, saying: "I'm prepared to give them the truth as I know it and as I seen it. I was only involved in the initial sort of a row when I was attacked, and that's all I can tell them."