The Saville Inquiry into the British army killings on Bloody Sunday was temporarily adjourned this morning while Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness conferred with his lawyers over questions put to him by counsel for the inquiry.
Mr McGuinness had refused to answer questions posed by Mr Christopher Clarke QC about the IRA at the time of Bloody Sunday.
When asked to reveal when he became the commanding officer of the Derry Brigade, Mr McGuinness said: "The reason I won't answer it is because it is not relevant to Bloody Sunday and that question opens up a whole other debate which has significance for the peace process," he said.
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He also refused to reveal who the IRA chief in the city was at the time of the shootings but confirmed he was still living.
Despite being pressed by Mr Clarke about the paramilitary organisation's officers in 1972, he would not name anyone but revealed: "I would say 75 per cent ofthose are still alive."
Mr McGuinness criticised the questioning and claimed the inquiry was straying away from its remit of finding out what happened on Bloody Sunday.
Tribunal chairman Lord Saville has demanded that the Provisionals come forward to give their version of what happened on Bloody Sunday.
Asked if he had encouraged former IRA members to testify before the tribunal, Mr McGuinness said: "I haven't sought any of them out, some have come to me.
"I made it very clear that I was going to the tribunal, that I was going to give my testimony and that I was encouraging both privately and publicly anyonewho can contribute to the uncovering the truth about what happened.
"I told anyone who came to me that they should make their own decision but I was not in any way going to put pressure on people to take a course of action which in my view could only be decided by themselves," he said.
The inquiry resumed after a short break.