STEPHEN BREEN
THE Government wants Scottish judges rather than an international jury to try the Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing.
Comments by Tony Blair have led to suggestions that this is a deliberate attempt to place another obstacle in the path of a trial taking place.
Families of the victims of the bombing last night described the news as discouraging.
In a letter to the Labour MP, Tam Dalyell, the Prime Minister stated that the Government is looking at a trial in the Netherlands.
The move is designed to break the six-year international stalemate caused by the refusal of the two Libyans indicted in 1992 for murdering 270 people in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 to stand trial in Scotland or the United States.
The Libyans have agreed to a compromise formula drawn up by Professor Robert Black of Edinburgh University to stand trial in a third country under Scottish procedures, with a Scottish judge presiding, but with the jury replaced by international judges.
Mr Blair's letter to Mr Dalyell, the MP for Linlithgow, which is dated 15 August, states: "We are engaged in intensive discussions with the US and Dutch governments to see whether it would be possible to try the Libyan accused before a Scottish court in the Netherlands. We hope to reach a decision on that soon.
"I should point out that what we are discussing differs from the proposal from Prof Black. We contemplate a trial before Scottish judges rather than an international panel.
"The Libyans have clearly stated in the past that they have no objection to Scottish judges. If we are able to go down this road, we would expect Libya to comply promptly."
Mr Dalyell and Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter, Flora, was killed in the bombing, have disagreed with Mr Blair's assertion that the Libyans had agreed to Scottish judges replacing the jury. At a meeting in Tripoli in April between Libyan government ministers and lawyers, and representatives of the British families, the Libyans confirmed they agreed with the Black formula.
Mr Dalyell said yesterday: "I'm dismayed by this letter. I don't think that five Scottish judges was ever acceptable and I fear that the West will make the excuse that the Libyans won't come.
"There are people in the West for whom the last thing they want is a trial that will expose the poverty of their evidence."
Dr Swire, who was at the meeting in Tripoli, described Mr Blair's letter as discouraging, but said its contents did not come as a surprise.
Dr Swire, of UK Families Flight 103, said he believed a trial would still happen. "I'm feeling optimistic, now that all three countries are discussing a neutral-country trial," he said.
"I don't think there's any way of stopping the process, now that they have conceded the principle of neutrality.
"We have to wait and see what the politicians ultimately come up with, but I think it [a trial] will happen."
The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, and the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, had been expected to announce details of their proposals for a trial this week.
The Foreign Office said discussions on technical issues were continuing and would have to be completed before a political settlement could be achieved.
Menzies Campbell,
QC, the Scottish Liberal Democrats' legal spokesman, welcomed the formula
outlined by Mr Blair.
"The Blair proposal
is the only possible way to go forward.
"If there is to be a trial outside Scotland under Scots law, it could only logically be before a panel of Scottish judges," he said.
"Otherwise,
the trial would be a hybrid with no clear connection with any legal jurisdiction
and making the rules up as it went along."
