PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED KINGDOM REPRESENTATIVE

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED KINGDOM REPRESENTATIVE

At a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Sir John Weston, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, told correspondents his Government had invited international observers to examine the Scottish judicial system and to discuss the arrangements for a trial of the two Lockerbie suspects in Scotland.

He said he wished to draw the attention of correspondents to an announcement made today in the House of Commons in London by the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook. The Foreign Secretary was inviting the Secretaries-General of the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity and the Arab League to send high-level representatives to Scotland. Robin Cook had said, "Our position has always been that there should be a trial in Scotland or the United States. This initiative will help those who have doubts about a trial in Scotland to reassure themselves that it will be entirely transparent and fair."

The visit had two purposes, Sir John said. It would give the observers opportunities to see the Scottish judicial system at work, and to have discussions with Scottish legal experts. They could also examine the facilities and procedures for the trial itself, in particular, the arrangements for international monitors to observe the trial.

There would only be a trial, he stressed, if Libya were to give up the two suspects for trial in Scotland, as the Security Council had demanded. The Foreign Secretary was today writing to the Government of Libya to reiterate that demand. The British Government hoped to arrange the observers' visit as soon as possible. The Permanent Representative said he had spoken with the Secretary-General this afternoon to convey the invitation, and he had no doubt of a response in due course.

A correspondent wanted to confirm that the invited representatives would have no role other than as observers. She also asked why, with Libya always inviting the British Government to call its bluff and hold the trial in a third country, Britain would not do so. Sir John replied that he would not be "drawn into that kind of hypothetical quagmire" on that issue. On the status of the invited representatives, he said it would be as observers. The purpose would be to "give the lie to the charge that somehow a trial in Scotland would not be fair and transparent". When the representatives went, which he hoped would be before the end of the year, every effort would be made to reassure them about what they could expect to see and do during the trial.

United Kingdom Press Briefing - 2 - 28 October 1997

What was the Secretary-General's response? a correspondent asked. Sir John said the Secretary-General's reaction seemed to be one of active interest, and he expected a response in the near future. The correspondent said the offer seemed to have been around for a while. What was new in it, he asked, and to what extent had it been a response to the clear pressure amongst other delegations at the United Nations, which were getting "rather fed up with sanctions" ? Sir John insisted that the offer was new. While there may have been speculation about such an invitation during the ministerial meeting of the Security Council in September, this was the first time the invitation had been issued. The British Government had been anxious to "show willing to the maximum extent," and there had been talk about such an offer in the margins of the Commonwealth Meeting. This afternoon marked the formal announcement of the invitation.

The correspondent said it looked as though the United Kingdom and the United States were "on the run", in the face of growing pressure from delegations at the United Nations getting "fed up with the sanctions on Libya". Sir John Weston said that was not at all the view of the British Government. Britain had the advantage of having the Security Council resolutions on its side.

Asked for his view of the position of the Council regarding sanctions violations by Libya; since the Council did not seem to have moved aggressively against Libya after such violations, he said the Council had always been firm about the importance of its resolutions being respected. The resolutions did provide that when there was genuine humanitarian cause, the Sanctions Committee could be flexible.

How many observers would be sent? a correspondent asked. Sir John said he had asked the Secretary-General to nominate two representatives. Similar invitations had gone out to the other organizations. A correspondent asked what would happen if Libya continued to refuse a trial in Scotland, even if such observers were sent. According to the terms of the resolutions, replied Sir John, the present sanctions regime would remain.

What was it that made the British Government extend such an invitation now? a correspondent inquired. Sir John said that since the matter had been raised in the ministerial meeting of the Security Council in September, the British Government had been anxious to show it was doing everything possible to meet claims that there was something unfair or prejudiced about Scottish justice. From time to time, the issue came back before the Security Council, and it was thought that every effort should be made to allay concerns about a trial in Scotland. The best way to do that was to invite the three organizations which had expressed an interest in the matter to send their representatives to Scotland.

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Did the invitation relate to the visit by South African President Nelson Mandela; asked a correspondent, and would Mr. Mandela be taking anything back with him when he went? It did not relate to any particular person in that way, replied Sir John. The ideas had already been under active discussion.

The Foreign Secretary had dealt with the issue with President Mandela during their two interviews over the weekend. Sir John said he had nothing to add on that point.

To a question on the level of United Nations officials who would be involved, he said he did not know. If any of the three organizations wanted to nominate, for an initial visit, people who had proven legal experience, and subsequently wanted them to be present at the trial as observers, that would be fine with the British Government.

A correspondent said one of the problems that some leaders had mentioned was not that the facilities in Scotland were not fair, but that it was not fair in principle for one nation to be both the victimized party and the prosecutor and judge. How could the British Government deal with that charge? he asked. "First of all, we don't think it's fair to blow up aircraft over British air space, with the death of 270 people, either", he replied. Also, the great merit of having the trial in Scotland was that it would be tried before a jury, and therefore, it would not be the same entity that was prosecuting, judging and delivering the verdict and sentence.

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