NCJ Number
204779
Date Published
2004
Length
605 pages
Annotation
This book provides a chronological history, through legal documents of the Lockerbie trial in Scotland from December 1988 through the trial and subsequent appeal to the lifting of Security Council sanctions against Libya in September 2003.
Abstract
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am 747, Flight 103 from London Heathrow bound for New York JFK exploded in mid-air in the border area between Scotland and England. The result was all those on the aircraft had died, 243 passengers and a crew of 16. The cause of the mid-air explosion was an explosive device. The aftermath of this terrorist attack resulted in a quest to determine who placed the explosive device on the aircraft and bring those responsible to justice. This book is intended to trace the history of the Lockerbie trial from December 1988 through the trial and subsequent appeal to the lifting of Security Council sanctions against Libya in September 2003. It is intended to provide the core legal texts relevant to the trial and appeal and to the associated International Court case. The documents are gathered in four parts, roughly corresponding to time periods. Part 1, The Investigation and the Identification of the Accused, contains documents from the date of the attack to the time of the Scottish warrants to arrest the Libyans and the United States indictment in November 1991. Part 2, Getting the Accused to Trial, has documents from the end of 1991 to the surrender of the Libyans for trial in April 1999. Part 3, The Trial and the Appeal, contains the core decisions prior to and during the trial, the trial verdict and the reasons for it, the grounds of appeal and the appeal judgment, plus critiques of the verdict and the appeal decision, and covers the period from late 1999 to September 2003 when Libya was acknowledged as having met the demands originally made in late 1991. Part 4, Meanwhile at the International Court, contains only four documents relating to the cases raised by Libya against the United States and the United Kingdom over the Lockerbie incident and dates from March 1992 to September 2003. An introductory chapter attempts to analyze the sequence of events and the documents that marked them. Before each document, a short commentary appears placing the document in context and explaining its important provisions and its significance to the entire trial process.