Families of the Bloody Sunday victims, and their lawyers, are anticipating a major setback when the High Court in London rules this morning on the question of the venue for hearing oral evidence by military witnesses.
Persistent reports suggest that the High Court judges will reverse the ruling by the Saville tribunal last August that soldiers due to give evidence must travel to the inquiry venue at the Guildhall in Derry to testify.
Lawyers for a representative group of soldiers sought a judicial review of this ruling, complaining that their clients could be in danger of attack by dissident republicans and others if they had to return to Derry. They argued that the soldiers' evidence should be given at an alternative venue in London or elsewhere outside Northern Ireland.
At the hearing of the soldiers' legal challenge in London last week, Saville tribunal lawyers rejected the assertion that military personnel could have reasonable fears for their safety while going to and from the Guildhall in Derry.
Last August, Lord Saville concluded that it was vital for public confidence in the inquiry that the paratroopers should come to Derry. The events of Bloody Sunday had their most serious and lasting effects on the people there.
Local reports in advance of today's High Court ruling suggest that the two judges who presided at the judicial review proceedings will say Lord Saville and his colleagues struck the wrong balance between the soldiers' rights and those of the victims' families when arriving at the decision last August.
Up to 400 soldiers, including members of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment who carried out the killings in the Bogside, are due to be called as witnesses next year. Their evidence is expected to take at least six months.
The inquiry resumes on Monday.