Fate Of Pan Am Bombers Rests With U.N. World Court Ruling Rejects U.S., Britain Bid For Authority

Rebuffing the United States and Britain, the World Court ruled Friday that it has the authority to settle a dispute deadlocking a trial of two Libyans suspected of blowing up a jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

The ruling did not address the crucial question of where a trial could be held, but paves the way for the court to eventually make that decision. Libya, the United States and Britain have been fighting over the issue for years.

But because the World Court, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, often takes years to reach decisions, Friday’s ruling further delays a possible trial - if there ever is one.

Some relatives of the 270 people killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 were angered by the ruling, calling it a victory for Libya; others saw it as the only way out of the legal logjam that has frustrated them for nearly a decade.

“I think it’s a disaster. I think it struck a blow against justice,” said Stephanie Bernstein of Bethesda, Md., whose husband, Michael, was among those killed.

”(Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi for 10 years now has been able to drag this out, been able to hire all kinds of high-powered legal help,” she said. “He has done everything in his power to avoid what should be done, which is to turn over the two suspects.”

Libya had asked the court to lift U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed to force it to extradite the suspects to the United States or Britain.

Libya has refused to turn over the men, and the United States and Britain argued that the World Court has no jurisdiction to hear Libya’s case.

But the judges voted 13-2 - with the American and British justices opposed - that they do have the authority to step in.

The court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, will now focus on whether to lift the sanctions. If they are lifted, that could allow Libya to try the men at home, or at least turn them over for trial to a neutral country.

Libya hailed Friday’s ruling.

It proves that “the unjust and inhuman sanctions imposed on the Libyan Arab people are invalid and null, and exposes the fabrications about international legitimacy of … America and Britain,” the Libyan Foreign Ministry said in a statement broadcast on state television and monitored in Cairo.

In New York, Libya’s U.N. ambassador, Abuzed Dorda, said Friday that the ruling “is not merely a victory for Libya and its people, it is a victory for justice, a victory for righteousness, for international law and accords.”

In Washington, State Department spokesman James Foley called Libya’s victory claim exaggerated.

Libya claims that a 1971 civil aviation convention gives it the right to try the suspects and contends they would not get a fair trial in a U.S. or Scottish court. Libya’s government also maintains the men are innocent of charges they planted the suitcase bomb that shredded U.S.-bound Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988.

Both Britain and the United States say they should hold the trial, and that the World Court has no right to overturn the U.N. sanctions.

Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among the dead, represents a group of relatives pressing for a trial in a neutral country as the only way out of the deadlock.

He said he was excited and pleased by Friday’s ruling, and had warned that a court decision not to take the case would have been “the latest slap in the face for our search for truth and justice.”

For Robert Leckburg of Cold Spring, N.J., who lost his only son Robert Jr. in the explosion, even a trial may not erase the agony.

“The pain never goes away,” he said. “There’s a void in our life and as we get older, we just think about him more.”