On this date in 1999 Abdelbaset Megrahi and Lamin Fhimah were committed until liberated in due course of law (“full committal”) in separate brief hearings before Sheriff Principal Graham Cox QC sitting at Camp Zeist. No judicial examination was sought by the Crown.
On 5 April 1999, after some months of discussions on concerns from the accused and their lawyers, al-Megrahi and Fhimah surrendered for trial in the Netherlands at the Dutch military airbase of Valkenburg, just outside The Hague. They were swiftly extradited to Scottish jurisdiction at Camp Zeist, just outside Utrecht. Camp Zeist, a former American airbase, had been agreed between the British and Dutch governments as the most suitable site for the trial. On the second of two appearances before Sheriff Principal Graham Cox QC, sitting at Camp Zeist, they were committed for trial on 14 April 1999. The normal period under Scots law within which the trial must commence, 110 days from the date of full committal, has been extended on application to the High Court, again sitting at Camp Zeist. The trial proper begins in early 2000 and is expected to last for at least a year.
Well, it would have lasted at least a year if the defence had stirred itself actually to present a case.
ReplyDeleteMonths and months of prosecution testimony, then a grand total of three defence witnesses taking up less than two half days.
They originally listed a hundred and more defence witnesses. What was that all about?