| Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing Trial |
Article Index for Pan Am |
Shopping 103 |
Website Links For Pan Am |
Information AboutPan Am Flight 103 Bombing Trial |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PAN AM FLIGHT 103 BOMBING TRIAL | |
| scots law | |
| pan am flight 103 | |
| trials | |
| 2000 in law | |
| 2001 in law | |
| 2000 in scotland | |
| 2001 in scotland | |
| scottish case law | |
|
The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial finally began on May 3 , 2000 , which was 11 years, four months and 13 days after the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21 , 1988 . A Scottish High Court Of Justiciary was purpose-built at the neutral venue of Camp Zeist , Netherlands , a former United States Air Force base. Facilities for a high security prison were also installed there. For the duration of the Trial - expected to last for up to a year - and any subsequent Appeal , the Camp Zeist area was declared the Sovereign Territory of the United Kingdom and governed by Scots Law , under a bi-lateral Treaty between the UK and Dutch governments. THE VENUE at Camp Zeist]] Upon their indictment in November 1991, the Libyan government was called upon to extradite the two Libyan suspects for trial in either Britain or the United States. Since no bi-lateral extradition treaty was in force between any of the three countries, Libya refused to hand the men over but did offer to detain them for trial in Libya, as long as all the incriminating evidence was provided. The offer was unacceptable to the US and Britain, and there was an Impasse for the next three years. In November 1994, President Nelson Mandela offered South Africa as a neutral venue for the trial but this was rejected by former British prime minister, John Major . A further three years elapsed until Mandela's offer was repeated to Major's successor, Tony Blair , when the president visited London in July 1997 and again at the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Edinburgh in October 1997. At the latter meeting, Mandela warned that "no one nation should be complainant, prosecutor and judge" in the Lockerbie case. The eventually agreed compromise solution of a trial in the Netherlands governed by Scots law was engineered by legal academic Professor Robert Black of Edinburgh University and, as endorsing Britain's new, ethical foreign policy, was given political impetus by the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook . {Link without Title} THE ACCUSED Two Libyans were accused of the crime. They were named as Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah . In the run-up to the trial, the Prosecution had considered bringing charges against Swiss businessman, Edwin Bollier , of the electronics firm Mebo Ag. But the Prosecution decided that, unless evidence to incriminate Bollier were to be adduced during the trial, he would not be included as a co-conspirator in causing the bombing. . On April 5 , 1999 , over a year ahead of the start of the trial, Megrahi and Fhimah arrived in the Netherlands . THE CHARGES The two accused denied all charges leveled against them. Three outline charges were:
The full charges included the names of the murdered 259 passengers and crew of Pan Am Flight 103 , and the eleven residents killed at Lockerbie in Scotland . {Link without Title} THE JUDGES The Scottish High Court Of Justiciary at Camp Zeist, Netherlands was presided over by three senior Judges and an additional Judge (non-voting): {Link without Title}
THE PROSECUTION There were five QC. The latter led the Prosecution on behalf of The Crown . Advocates Depute Alistair Campbell QC and Allan Turnbull QC assisted. Alongside the Prosecution were seated U.S. Department Of Justice representatives Brian Murtaugh, who had helped draw up the indictment against the two accused, and Dana Biehl. Five years after the trial, former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser, who issued the arrest warrants in 1991, was alleged to have said that he was not entirely happy with the evidence presented against Megrahi during his trial in 2000, and in his subsequent appeal in 2002. According to '' The Sunday Times '' of October 23 , 2005 , Lord Fraser allegedly cast doubt upon the reliability of the main prosecution witness, Tony Gauci . {Link without Title} THE DEFENCE Representing Megrahi were his Solicitor , Alistair Duff, and Advocate s William Taylor QC , David Burns QC and John Beckett. Fhimah was represented by solicitor Eddie McKechnie, advocates Richard Keen QC, Jack Davidson QC and Murdo Macleod. Both defendants also had access to Libyan defence lawyer, Mr. Maghour. PRE-TRIAL HEARINGS Five pre-trial hearings took place: the accused waived their right to attend two procedural hearings at the high court in Edinburgh; they attended two hearings at Camp Zeist which were held in private; and, on December 7 , 1999 they made their first public appearance before the Scottish court in the Netherlands. At this public hearing the presiding Judge, Lord Sutherland, ruled that:
THE PROCEEDINGS Court proceedings started on May 3 , 2000 with the Prosecution outlining the case against the accused and previewing the evidence which they expected would satisfy the Judges ''beyond reasonable doubt'' that the sabotage of PA 103 was caused by:
In the trial's second week, Detective Constable Gilchrist was asked about the piece of charred material that he and DC McColm had found three weeks after the PA 103 crash. DC Gilchrist attached a label to the material and wrote "Cloth (charred)" on it. The word 'cloth' was overwritten by the word 'debris'. DC Gilchrist's attempts to explain the overwriting were later described by the Judges as "at worst evasive and at best confusing." There was no third week and, because of equipment problems in the courtroom, only a truncated fourth week. In week 5, Professor Peel of the Defence Evaluation And Research Agency (DERA) gave evidence concerning the baggage container AVE 4041. Week 6 was devoted to the testimony behind screens of CIA agents and Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco And Firearms officers relating to interception of arms caches (including MST-13 timers) in the West African countries of Senegal and Togo . In week 7 Alan Feraday , also of DERA , gave evidence. Feraday presented the court with a simulated IED of the type alleged to have caused the sabotage of PA 103. Under cross-examination, he admitted the fragments of radio cassette and timer, found in DC Gilchrist's ''cloth/debris (charred)'' material, had not been tested for explosives residue. The Defence were, however, later criticized for having failed to challenge Feraday to explain why his note to Detective Chief Inspector William Williamson in September 1989, covering a Polaroid photograph of the timer fragment (identified in May 1989), said it was "the best I can do in such a short time." Edwin Bollier of Mebo Ag was questioned in week 8. Bollier said his firm made a range of products including briefcases equipped to radio-detonate IEDs. He agreed that Mebo had sold 20 timers to Libya in 1985. Bollier was shown a number of printed circuit board fragments which he identified as coming from the Mebo MST-13 timer. Joachim Wenzel, an employee of the Stasi , the former East German intelligence agency, testified behind screens in week 9. Wenzel claimed to have been Bollier's handler in the years 1982-85 and testified that Mebo had supplied the Stasi with timers. A Mebo employee, Ueli Lumpert, was asked to confirm his signature on a 1993 letter. The trial was then adjourned until July 12, 2000. In week 11, Mebo lawyer Dieter Neupert filed an official criminal complaint against . Wilfred Borg, Ground Operations Manager at Malta's Luqa airport, was questioned about Luqa's baggage handling procedures. A Mr Ferrugia confirmed that he had been a passenger on Air Malta flight KM 180 to Frankfurt on December 21, 1988. Two Germans, Birgit Seliger and Evelin Steinwandt, confirmed in week 12 that they had also travelled on flight KM 180. Martin Huebner and Joachim Koscha were questioned about baggage handling procedures at Frankfurt airport. Five more passengers on flight KM 180 testified in week 13. The captain of flight KM 180, Khalil Lahoud, also gave evidence and was asked to confirm that the aircraft's altitude during the flight had exceeded 30,000ft. This information was intended to demonstrate that an IED loaded at Luqa airport would have had a timed detonator rather than a Barometric trigger. The trial was then adjourned until August 22, 2000. In week 17, another four passengers on flight KM 180 were asked to testify. The following week, Abdul Majid Giaka , a defector from the Libyan intelligence service, appeared wearing sunglasses and a wig. Giaka , who had been on the US Witness Protection Program since July 1991, testified that Megrahi was a Libyan agent. Rather than calling the defendants to the witness stand, their legal team sought to use the special defence of incrimination against the person or persons they believed were guilty of the crime. There was speculation that Mohammed Abu Talb , a convicted PFLP-GC member, would be called by the Defence to testify in week 19, and when he failed to appear the trial was adjourned for the next five weeks to allow new evidence from a "country in the Mid East" to be examined. Abu Talb finally gave evidence in week 25 and testified that he had been babysitting at home in Sweden when PA 103 was sabotaged on December 21, 1988. The Crown concluded the Prosecution case in week 26. In its closing address for Fhimah in weeks 26 and 27, the Defence submitted there was no case for him to answer. There were no weeks 28 to 32. The expected documents from the "country in the Mid East" - thought to be Syria - had not materialized by week 33, and the Defence confirmed that the accused would not take the witness stand. The Prosecution dropped two of the three charges against the accused, leaving the single charge of Murder against both Megrahi and Fhimah . The Defence claimed the accused had no case to answer. In week 34 the Defence argued that the IED started its journey at Heathrow, rather than Luqa airport in Malta. The Judges then retired to consider their verdict. There was no week 35. The Judges announced their verdict on January 31, 2001 in week 36. THE VERDICT In addition to the options of was sentenced to Life Imprisonment , with a recommendation that he should serve at least 20 years before being eligible for Parole . THE APPEAL ?]] The Defence team had just 14 days in which to appeal against Megrahi's conviction on January 31, 2001 and a further six weeks to submit the full grounds of the appeal. These were considered by a Judge sitting in private who decided to grant Megrahi leave to appeal. The only basis for an appeal under Scots law is that there has been a ", Lord Justice-General ; Lord Kirkwood; Lord Osborne; Lord Macfadyen; and, Lord Nimmo Smith. In what was described as a milestone in Scottish legal history, Lord Cullen granted the BBC permission in January 2002 to televise the appeal, and to broadcast it on the Internet in English with a simultaneous Arabic translation. William Taylor QC, leading the Defence, said at the appeal's opening on January 23, 2002 that the three trial Judges sitting without a jury had failed to see the relevance of "significant" evidence and had accepted unreliable facts. He argued that the verdict was not one that a reasonable jury in an ordinary trial could have reached if it were given proper directions by the Judge. The grounds of the appeal rested on two areas of evidence where the Defence claimed the original court was mistaken: the evidence of Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, which the Judges accepted as sufficient to prove that the "primary suitcase" started its journey in Malta; and, disputing the Prosecution's case, fresh evidence would be adduced to show that the bomb's journey actually started at Heathrow. That evidence, which was not heard at the trial, showed that at some time in the two hours before 00:35 on December 21, 1988 a padlock had been forced on a secure door giving access to airside in Terminal 3 of Heathrow airport, near to the area referred to at the trial as the "baggage build-up area". Taylor claimed that the PA 103 bomb could have been planted then. Extracts of the full grounds of appeal are listed here {Link without Title} . On March 14 , 2002 it took Lord Cullen less than three minutes to deliver the decision of the High Court of Justiciary. The five Judges refused the appeal, ruling unanimously that "none of the grounds of appeal was well-founded", adding "this brings proceedings to an end". The following day, a helicopter took Megrahi from Camp Zeist to continue his Life Sentence in Barlinnie prison, Glasgow . THE SCCRC The '' of October 29 , 2005 , there is mounting speculation that the SCCRC will conclude that Megrahi has suffered a Miscarriage Of Justice , and should be granted leave to make a further appeal against his conviction. The speculation follows remarks allegedly made by former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser Of Carmyllie , about the reliability of the key prosecution witness at the trial, Tony Gauci. REMARKS BY LORD FRASER '' The Sunday Times '' of October 23 , 2005 reported that Lord Fraser Of Carmyllie , who drew up the 1991 Indictment against the two accused Libyans and issued warrants for their arrest, had now cast doubt upon the reliability of the main prosecution witness, Tony Gauci. Lord Fraser criticised the Maltese shopkeeper for ''inter alia'' being "not quite the full shilling" and an "apple short of a picnic". The current Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd , reacted to the remarks, as follows: "It was Lord Fraser who, as Lord Advocate, initiated the Lockerbie prosecution. At no stage, then or since, has he conveyed any reservation about any aspect of the prosecution to those who worked on the case, or to anyone in the prosecution service." Mr Boyd has asked Lord Fraser to clarify his apparent attack on Gauci by issuing a public statement of explanation. William Taylor QC , who defended Megrahi at the trial and the appeal, said Lord Fraser should never have presented Gauci as a crown witness: "A man who has a public office, who is prosecuting in the criminal courts in Scotland, has got a duty to put forward evidence based upon people he considers to be reliable. He was prepared to advance Gauci as a witness of truth in terms of identification and, if he had these misgivings about him, they should have surfaced at the time. The fact that he is coming out many years later after my former client has been in prison for nearly four and a half years is nothing short of disgraceful. Gauci's evidence was absolutely central to the conviction and for Peter Fraser not to realise that is scandalous," Taylor said. to ask Lord Fraser to see them and testify under oath - it's that serious. Fraser should have said this at the time and, if not then, he was under a moral obligation to do so before the trial at Zeist. I think there will be all sorts of consequences," Dalyell declared. Gerard Sinclair, chief executive of the SCCRC, refused to say whether the Commission was investigating Lord Fraser's reported remarks. "Any investigation we carry out we seek to do so as rigorously and as thoroughly as possible," he said. Robert Black, Professor Emeritus of Scots Law at Edinburgh University and a Lockerbie expert, described the alleged remarks as "an indication that various people who have been involved in the Lockerbie prosecution are now positioning themselves in anticipation of the SCCRC holding that there was a ''prima facie'' miscarriage of justice, and sending it back for a fresh appeal." A FRESH APPEAL? Alarmed at rumours that Megrahi might be forced to drop a fresh appeal against his conviction, as part of a secret deal being negotiated between the US, Britain and Libya for his repatriation, UK Lockerbie relatives made strong representations in November 2005 to the SCCRC to complete its review of the case and not succumb to government interference. Professor Robert Black , who devised the special arrangements for the original non-jury trial believes that, if Megrahi's case is ruled to be a miscarriage of justice and is referred back for a fresh appeal, the court authorities will require a bench of at least five Scottish Judges to preside at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh. None of the Judges who sat at the trial or in the first appeal will be eligible to preside at the fresh appeal. THE UN OBSERVER Professor Hans Köchler , who was appointed as UN observer by . By abandoning legal principles and politicising it, the trial became a " Show Trial " of the kind that Western Liberal democracies often condemn in non-Western societies and as such it dealt a serious blow to the image of freedom and democracy. STATISTICS Some general statistics:
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|