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DATE=8/22/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=LOCKERBIE TRIAL (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-265747 BYLINE=RON PEMSTEIN DATELINE=ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The trial of two Libyan suspects for the 1988 bombing of an American jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, has resumed in the Netherlands after a one- month break. V-O-A's Ron Pemstein reports from Zeist, in central Holland, that the first day of the resumed trial was bogged down in a procedural dispute involving a Libyan defector and documents from the U-S Central Intelligence Agency TEXT: In August of 1988, Abdul Majid, also known as "Ghaka," offered his services to C-I-A agents working in Malta. He said he was a Libyan intelligence officer working there for Libyan Airways. And observers say he is likely to have crucial information about the activities of the two Libyans on trial here for the bombing of Pan Am flight 1-0-3 in December 1988. The two are charged with putting a bomb in a cassette recorder inside a suitcase in Malta that was transferred to the Pan Am airplane in Frankfurt, Germany. The bomb exploded after the airplane left London on a flight to New York. The explosion killed 259 people aboard the plane and 11 more on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. Mr. Majid is now living under a U-S witness protection program and is expected to testify here against the two suspects, Abdul Baset Ali Al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Phimah. Mr. Majid's testimony will be supported by 25 C-I-A cables about him -- although the documents have been heavily edited by the agency. The defense did not object to the cables being introduced into evidence on the understanding that the prosecution also did not know what was contained in the edited portions. But, when the trial resumed Tuesday, Mr. Megrahi's lawyer said he had just been informed that the C-I-A had allowed the prosecution to see an unedited copy of the documents two months ago, after this trial was already under way. The lawyer, Bill Taylor, told the court this advantage was not fair to the defense. He also said he could not accept the prosecution's argument that the edited portions of the C-I-A documents either protect the agency's sources and methods or are not relevant to the Lockerbie bombing. The prosecutor accuses the defense lawyers of launching what he calls a "fishing expedition" for information to damage the credibility of Mr. Majid. He reminded the court it has no power to order the C-I-A to produce unedited documents. The Scottish judges agreed with the defense that it is entitled to same information as the prosecution. And, they asked the prosecution to make its best endeavors to obtain better information from the C-I-A. Three C- I-A officers familiar with Mr. Majid's activities will testify here using false names. Thanks to arguments about Mr. Majid and other procedural matters, the first day of the trial after a summer recess heard from no witnesses at all. (Signed) NEB/RDP/JWH/FC 22-Aug-2000 13:11 PM EDT (22-Aug-2000 1711 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .