The trial of four Derry City men accused of Real IRA membership collapsed dramatically at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.

The Special Criminal Court has ruled that the initial detention of four men accused of IRA membership was unlawful.

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin was today shown a video of three masked men, including one carrying an AK 47 rifle, who told BBC journalists they were the Real IRA and ``capable of waging war against the British state’.

The trial of four men arrested during a Garda operation into suspected dissident activity in Donegal last March has heard that images of “men in balaclavas, camouflaged jackets and holding an AK47” were found during a search of a Transit van.