Scottish justice system exposed

[The following are excerpts from an item on the Justice for Megrahi press conference published on the Miscarriage of Justice? website:]

The Justice for Megrahi (JfM) Campaign Group have held a Press Conference in which they accuse the Scottish Crown Office of criminality in the investigation and prosecution of the Lockerbie Bombing case.  In response, the Crown Office have called the allegations defamatory and without substance following an earlier review by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. (...)

They allege that the State has been interfering in the investigation and prosecution of the crime and continues to exert influence by not fully examining the concerns that they have raised with the Justice Secretary.

The allegations are all the more serious as this case dates back to 1988, covering periods when Scotland was governed by UK and Scottish Parliaments of all political persuasions.

In a week when South Yorkshire Police are being investigated for claims that police officers were told to falsify statements taken in the wake of the miners' strike and when the Hillsborough investigations are so serious and numerous that the Independent Police Complaints Commission can hardly cope, Scots should have been able to proudly declare that would never happen in Scotland. That however would appear to not be the case.

This case exposes the Scottish Justice System to a global stage in a way never seen before. This case has broken the normal jurisdictional boundaries, involved several of the most distinguished legal minds and should be proving beyond doubt, that the criminal law, with its strong emphasis on justice and protections for the rights of the accused, is the finest criminal system in the world.  Why am I not surprised therefore that this is not the case?

With the questions surrounding this case continuing for so long and long after Megrahi and his political leaders are dead, it is time for a full and independent examination of the allegations. The continuing denials by the Crown Office in the face of the evidence only serves to prove what a corrupt organisation they really are.

But then again, I know this from personal experience of them!

[A report on the press conference on the Edinburgh Wired website can be read here.]