DATE=8/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LOCKERBIE TRIAL ONITER (L)
NUMBER=2-265705
BYLINE=RON PEMSTEIN
DATELINE=CAMP ZEIST, NETHERLANDS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The trial of two Libyan suspects charged with the
1988 bombing of Pan American Airways Flight 103 over
Scotland resumes Tuesday, after a one-month summer recess.
Ron Pemstein reports from the trial site in the
Netherlands.
TEXT: There is a quicker pace to the trial after three
months. When it began in May, there were predictions it
would run more than one year, with one-thousand witnesses
scheduled to testify. Instead, the prosecution and the
defense lawyers have agreed to admit much of the physical
evidence about the 1988 airplane bombing without any
dispute.
The defense does not challenge the fact that Pan Am Flight
103 was blown out of the sky on December 21st, 1988, over
Lockerbie, Scotland. The bombing killed 259 people on the
London-to-New York flight and 11 people on the ground.
The defense lawyers suggest it was not the Libyan suspects,
Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who
were responsible for planting the bomb. Instead, the
defense has raised the possibility that a breakaway
Palestinian group based in Germany could have had the
opportunity -- and the motive -- to bomb the Pan Am plane.
In presenting its case, the prosecution has encountered
difficulties in getting witnesses from Air Malta to appear
in court. Other witnesses who have testified complain
their memories are failing after more than 11 years.
Still, the prosecution is getting closer to showing that
the suspects were employed by the Libyan secret service,
and could have been involved in the bombing.
Glasgow University law professor Fraser Davidson tells
V-O-A (in a telephone interview) that the prosecution may
be proving its case despite its difficulties.
/// 1ST DAVIDSON ACT ///
I think it does not look like a cast-iron
[guaranteed] case, and it certainly has not helped
(that) some of the witnesses haven't been available.
But I think the prosecution probably would have known
that some of the witnesses would have been fairly
weak links. I think what they are hoping is that the
weight of the case as a whole is going to convince
the judges.
/// END ACT ///
Three Scottish judges are hearing the case at a former air
base in central Holland that has been declared Scottish
territory for the duration of the trial. The trial has
been held here as a compromise, to get Libya to agree to
hand over the two suspects. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
refused to release them for a trial in Scotland.
There is no jury at this trial. Professor Davidson says
the defense suggestion of other suspects in the bombing may
have a more limited impact on the panel of judges.
/// 2ND DAVIDSON ACT ///
The main difference between the judges and the jury
is that the judges are probably much less likely to
be confused by alternative explanations. In other
words, if they feel that (the) alternative scenario
raised by the defense is a weak one they'll just
dismiss it out of hand.
/// END ACT ///
For the Libyan defendants to be found innocent, the defense
has only to raise reasonable doubt about their guilt. The
trial could finish before the end of the year. (Signed)
NEB/RP/GE/WTW/FC
21-Aug-2000 15:31 PM EDT (21-Aug-2000 1931 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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