Libya to respect Lockerbie verdict

Gadhafi was not involved in Lockerbie bomb plot, says ambassador

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Libya's ambassador to the United Nations has told CNN that Libya will "respect and implement" the verdicts of the Scottish court in the Lockerbie trial.

But Abduzed Dorda firmly denied that Libya's leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi was involved in the plot to plant the bomb on the plane which crashed on Lockerbie in 1988.

The ambassador said: "Libya was never accused in that court and has never been tried. The case was against two individuals, never against Libya as a state.

"The prosecutors themselves said that Libya as a state had nothing at all to do with this case, at all."

He said he was shocked by the conviction of one of the accused and said there was no evidence against either of the two men.

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But he added: "We said always we do respect the long history of the Scottish law. We are looking forward to the appeal and the result of that.

"We do not mix at all between the political issue that might be behind the accusation against the two Libyans and the role of the trial."

He also said his country will respect any decision that might be taken by a Scottish civil court that may follow as a result of this criminal trial.

He pledged that Libya will implement any decision taken by the Scottish courts in relation to compensation being paid to the relatives of victims.

Asked about sanctions against Libya, he said: "Let's look forward, let's get rid of the past. Why do we remain prisoners of the past?

"Our five million population has undergone a collective punishment without any proof or evidence. Let us open a new page for the future."

CNN's Brent Sadler, reporting from Tripoli, said the reaction in the Libyan capital was one of relief that one of the two accused was found not guilty and that there would be an appeal in respect of the other.

Libya's foreign spokesman, he said, was calling for a new page in the stormy relationship between Libya and the U.S. and he hoped the U.S. attitude would progress towards Libya and this would be the end of this matter.

The spokesman said there was "no need whatsoever for any sanctions regime to continue against Libyan authorities."

CNN's Sadler added that the family of Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah had expressed relief that he had been acquitted.

Libyan guilty of Lockerbie bombing
January 31, 2001

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