Mr Roche underwent tests at Porton Down in the 1960s
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Mr Roche underwent tests at Porton Down in the 1960s
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Thomas Roche, 65, of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, claims he was unable to work after he was exposed to nerve agent experiments in the 1960s.
He has had several previous attempts for compensation refused.
The case has now been brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
'Fair trial'
Mr Roche's lawyers said he had been denied access to his medical records and information about the experiments, which took place at the Porton Down laboratories on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
They said the government breached the Human Rights Convention by using the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 to prevent him suing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for negligence.
The act blocks any such proceedings concerning events before 1987.
The judges must now decide whether the lack of disclosure of documents, and the use of the 1947 act to block legal action, amounts to human rights violations.
Pension granted
Mr Roche, who is registered disabled, won the right to a war disablement pension earlier this month.
A High Court judge ruled the Pensions Appeal Tribunal "erred in law" when it rejected Thomas Roche's previous pension application.
He was unable to work from the early 1990s because of breathing difficulties, including attacks of chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma.
He had served in the Royal Engineers as a sapper between February 1954 and April 1968.
He says in the tests he underwent, he was strapped into a chair in an unventilated room and had drops of mustard gas applied to patches of material taped to his skin.
He was later placed in an air-tight cubicle and inhaled another gas through a face mask similar to an oxygen mask.
Judges are expected to deliver their verdict later this year or early in 2005, following Wdnesday's hearing.