NETHERLANDS: TRIAL OF TWO LIBYAND ACCUSED OF 1988 LOCKERBIE AIRLINE BOMBING TO GO AHEAD AS PLANNED
Record ID:
838012
NETHERLANDS: TRIAL OF TWO LIBYAND ACCUSED OF 1988 LOCKERBIE AIRLINE BOMBING TO GO AHEAD AS PLANNED
- Title: NETHERLANDS: TRIAL OF TWO LIBYAND ACCUSED OF 1988 LOCKERBIE AIRLINE BOMBING TO GO AHEAD AS PLANNED
- Date: 27th April 2000
- Summary: CAMP ZEIST, NETHERLANDS (APRIL 27, 2000)(REUTERS) SLV LIBYAN DEFENDANTS' RELATIVES WALKING DOWN PATH PAST SECURITY FENCE; PEOPLE AT SECURITY GATE SLV/MV SECURITY SEARCHING UNDER VAN FOR BOMBS (2 SHOTS) MV/TRACK BROTHER OF DEFENDANT ABDEL BASSET ALI AL-MEGRAHI, WEARING BLACK JACKET, WALKS UP TO SECURITY POINT; SECURITY ARMED WITH MACHINE GUNS STANDING BY (3 SHOTS) MV/SLV/MV MEMBERS OF DEFENDANT'S FAMILY EMBRACING; FAMILY MEMBERS GOING IN (3 SHOTS) SLV SECURITY SEARCHING FOR BOMBS TRACK BRITISH RELATIVES' LEADER DR JIM SWIRE WALKS UP TO SECURITY, SAYS HE WANTS TO SEE SCOTTISH JUSTICE IN ACTION (2 SHOTS) INT INTERIORS OF COURT (3 SHOTS) SLV VAN COMES OUT OF COURT/COURT SIGN/SECURITY (3 SHOTS) VARIOUS LIBYAN DELEGATION WALK OUT WITHOUT COMMENT/ RELATIVES WALK OUT (7 SHOTS) SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) Swire: "It's the first time I have seen the two accused in the flesh. I don't at this juncture know whether they were responsible for the murder of my daughter or not. I did not find it an emotional shock, perhaps because it is such a long time and I have seen so many videos of them and so many mugshots and so many still photographs; I didn't find that it was an upsetting experience It was refreshing to see a Scottish criminal court preparing to try the only two people accused so far of this viscious and foul deed." SET UP/SV SOUNDBITE (English) ANDREW FULTON, PROFESSOR AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY: "I think they got a very fair hearing for the postponement, but I think the judge made very clear that on the balance of all the rights and wrongs of the case made to him here was not really a case for postponement; and so he - rightly in my view -has gone ahead. He also made it clear that he wasn't happy with the level of cooperation between the crown and the prosecution, he described it as lamentable and that he wanted this to be improved for the course of the trial. And it should be improved, because this trial is going to go on for a long time; there will be many difficult and heated moments, and the courtroom should have the interests of justice at the forefront, as Lord Sutherland said." (2 SHOTS) MV LIBYANS GET INTO VAN, WHICH TURNS ROUND AND DRIVES OFF
- Embargoed: 12th May 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAMP ZEIST, NETHERLANDS
- City:
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Crime,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVACFHEK5QIB33RF81MSXODFY7DN
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- Story Text: The trial of two Libyans accused of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing will go ahead as planned next Wednesday after a Scottish judge on Thursday rejected prosecution requests for a two-month delay.
Relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster arrived at the specially constructed court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands on Thursday (April 27) saying they wanted to see Scottish justice in action.
They were joined at court by family members of the accused.They had all come to witness the Scottish court at Camp Zeist consider a prosecution request for a third postponement of the Lockerbie bombing trial - several weeks beyond the scheduled May 3 starting date.
British relatives' leader Jim Swire said he wanted to see Scottish justice done.After the decision to go ahead with the trial, he said: "It's the first time I have seen the two accused in the flesh.I don't at this juncture know whether they were responsible for the murder of my daughter or not.
"I did not find it an emotional shock, perhaps because it is such a long time, and I have seen so many videos of them and so many mugshots and so many still photographs; I didn't find that was an upsetting experience.
"It was refreshing to see a Scottish criminal court prerparing to try the only two people accused so far of this vicious and foul deed."
Andrew Fulton, a professor of law at Glasgow University, said "I think they got a very fair hearing for the postponement, but I think the judge made very clear that on the balance of all the rights and wrongs of the case made to him here was not really a case for postponement; and so he - rightly in my view -has gone ahead.
"He also made it clear that he wasn't happy with the level of co-operation between the crown and the prosecution - he described it as lamentable - and that he wanted this to be improved for the course of thr trial.
"And it should be improved, because this trial is going to go on for a long time; there will be many difficult and heated moments, and the courtroom should have the interests of justice at the forefront, as Lord Sutherland said."
The Lockerbie trial has already been delayed twice since Libya finally agreed to extradite the defendants last year to face murder charges in the December 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Prosecutors wanted the delay to give them time to assess dozens of witnesses and reams of evidence which the defence revealed only recently that it would use.
Presiding Judge Lord Ranald Sutherland threw out the request saying: "I am not satisfied that a postponement is necessary."The accused have now been in custody for a total of 416 days which is an unprecedented period in Scottish procedure."
At the pre-trial hearing, defence lawyers for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima revealed plans to try to prove that others were responsible for the bombing of a Boeing 747 over the Scottish village of Lockerbie which killed 270 people.
Defence counsel William Taylor said the so-called special defence would involve two organisations and 10 individuals.
The defence had been rumoured to be planning to incriminate Mohammed Abu Talb, one of the original suspects in the case and a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a Palestinian guerrilla group.
It was originally believed that the group was responsible for the bombing instead of the Libyans.Talb is currently in jail in Sweden.
The two accused were in court for the hearing.Dressed casually in shirts and jackets, they looked relaxed but attentive as they followed the procedings through an Arabic interpreter.
The hearing was at Camp Zeist, a former U.S.military base ceded to Britain by the Netherlands for the trial.Under a deal brokered by the United Nations last year, Libya handed over the two men to stand trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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