ACCESSION NUMBER:225575
FILE ID:NE-205
DATE:04/28/92
TITLE:U.S. SAYS JUSTICE WILL BE DONE IN PAN AM BOMBING CASE (04/28/92)
TEXT:*92042806.NEA burleigh/libya/worldnet  eg yb kf
*NEA205   04/28/92

U.S. SAYS JUSTICE WILL BE DONE IN PAN AM BOMBING CASE
(Burleigh calls for trial in U.S. or Scotland)  (540)
By Eric Green
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States believes it is essential that justice be
done for the December 1988 bombing of a Pan American World Airways flight
over Lockerbie, Scotland, says Ambassador Peter Burleigh, coordinator for
counter-terrorism at the State Department.

Speaking April 28 on WorldNet, the U.S. Information Agency's satellite
television service, Burleigh said that justice for this case means the two
Libyan agents indicted for the bombing "should be placed on trial" in
either the United States or Scotland.  To date, the Libyan government has
refused demands from the United Nations Security Council that the agents be
handed over to U.S. or Scottish authorities.  The Pan Am bombing resulted
in the deaths of 270 people.

Burleigh rejected proposals that the two agents be tried at the
International Court of Justice in The Hague, saying that most countries,
including the United States, believe that this court does not "have
experience or mandates for criminal cases and therefore is not an
appropriate" forum.  He said the trial should take place in either the
United States, because the Pan Am plane was U.S.-chartered, or in Scotland,
where the bombing occurred.

"There is no international court that has criminal jurisdiction, and that's
been the basic issue from the beginning," Burleigh said.  "That's why the
indicted individuals should be handed over to Scotland or the United States
for trial."
1
Asked whether the case was close to a solution, Burleigh said that question
should be addressed to the government of Libya.

"The requirement now, based on United Nations resolutions, is that Libya
fully cooperate with the investigations," he said.  "I would hope that we
are closer because what has been demonstrated in the Security Council
resolutions is a very widespread consensus that Libya must urgently take
the situation more seriously than it seems to have done up to date, and to
agree to comply with the mandatory resolution.  If Libya were to do that,
then, of course, we would have the solution.  So the burden of
responsibility is on Libya, not on the Security Council or on the U.S.
government.  It's up to Libya to act."

Burleigh said whether more United Nations sanctions would be imposed on
Libya if it does not comply with previous resolutions is a question "that
must be addressed by the Security Council after more time."

"The sanctions (against Libya) went into effect on April 15," Burleigh said.
 "On May 15 all member states of the United Nations must report to the U.N.
about (how they are) implementing the sanctions against Libya.  There is to
be a review by the Security Council every 120 days.... We'll have to wait
and see what happens.  What is required is that the government of Libya
change its position and agree to cooperate with the Security Council on
this very important issue."

The U.S. Justice Department indicted the two Libyan intelligence officers,
Lamen Khalifa Fhimah and Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, in November 1991,
implicitly blaming Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi for the bombing,
saying that Qadhafi's government was behind the operation.

NNNN

.