(14 Jan 2001) English/Nat
Closing arguments began Tuesday at the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.
A Scottish Crown prosecutor Alistair Campbell asked judges to overlook gaps in the evidence and convict two Libyans of murder for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, saying «mathematical certainty is neither necessary nor achievable» in the trial.
The Libyans’ trial, which began May 3rd, has been marked by delays and foul-ups by prosecution witnesses.
But Campbell said testimony by more than 200 witnesses should overcome any «fanciful or speculative doubt» in the case of the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing that killed 270 people.
Campbell asked judges to convict Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah for murder, a very difficult charge to prove under Scottish law.
The other two charges – conspiracy and endangering aircraft safety – should be dropped according to Scottish court procedure, he said.
In wrapping up his case, Campbell presented the most complete reconstruction of the crime given since investigators began what became the biggest murder inquiry in British history.
He traced the bomb’s journey to an unaccompanied suitcase loaded onto a flight leaving Malta at 9:50 that morning.
Flawed security measures at Germany’s Frankfurt airport had enabled the suitcase to slip through onto Pan Am Flight 103A, a feeder flight that connected with the doomed New York-bound airliner in London, Campbell said.
The bomb, he said, was embedded in a Toshiba RTSF-16 radio cassette player wrapped in clothing purchased earlier that month in a Maltese boutique by one of the defendants.
A prosecutor’s speech came a day after the defence abruptly wrapped up its case, ending 77 days of hearings.
A verdict in the trial, which is being held at a former U-S air base in the Netherlands, could be handed down as early as next week, court officials said.
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was on Pan Am Flight 103, was surprised with prosecutor’s decision to drop charges on conspiracy and endangering aircraft safety.
SOUNDBITE (English)
"Well presumably one has to assume they have done that to maximise their chances of success on the third charge. I am not qualified to say how unusual that move is. You would need to speak to Scottish lawyers about that. But I found that surprising, yes."
SUPERCAPTION Jim Swire, spokesman for Scottish family victims
Claire Donnelly from Glasgow University was also surprised with prosecutor’s move.
SOUNDBITE (English)
"Yes, this morning we heard in court that the prosecution are proceeding only on the murder charge. This means effectively that the conspiracy to murder and aviation security charge have been deleted from the indictment. Now, although it is not unusual for an indictment to be amended at the end of a trial, such a radical move of deleting two charges, and leaving the charge which is the most difficult to prove, and the most heinous of crimes, namely murder, is an unusual move, and suggests that the prosecution are very confident, that they have proven the case beyond the two accused, beyond reasonable doubt."
SUPERCAPTION Claire Donnelly, Scottish legal from Glasgow University
The Libyans, who say they are innocent, are seeking to incriminate Palestinian terrorist groups instead.
The defence claims the terrorist attack was mounted from Germany by the Syrian backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
If convicted of murder, Libyans face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment in Scotland.
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