PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS LEGAL COUNSEL

The Security Council would assess the future application of United Nations sanctions against the Government of Libya following the Lockerbie trial’s conclusion, a senior United Nations official told correspondents at a press briefing at Headquarters today.

The three-judge Scottish court delivered its judgement earlier this morning on the Lockerbie bombing trial, finding one of the suspects, Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi, guilty and the other, Al Amin Khalfa Fhimah, not guilty.  The verdicts announced today came 12 years after the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

Hans Corell, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, said when the question was raised of bringing the suspects before the court in the Netherlands almost two years ago, the role of the United Nations had been indispensable.

It was now up to the Security Council, he said, to resolve whether resolutions 731 [1992], 748 [1992] and 883 [1993], which imposed financial and flight restrictions on the Government or public authorities of Libya, would be kept on the table.  The sanctions were still applicable, although they had been suspended by the Council on 5 April 1999 after the bombing suspects were taken into United Nations custody.

Mr. Corell said the convening of the trial was an extraordinary event.  It was unprecedented for two countries to come to an agreement where one of the countries would allow a court from the other to sit on its territory and adjudicate a case.  This had been negotiated very carefully among the countries concerned.  [The two suspects were tried on a patch of land in the Netherlands that was declared Scottish.]

With respect to the details of the judgement, he referred correspondents to the 82-page judgement, which was available on the Internet.  He did not want to get involved in construing such a complex document, in particular because all legal systems had their specific features.  Any questions concerning the judgement should be directed to the Scottish court.

The Secretary-General was assigned two tasks by the Security Council in relation to the Lockerbie trial, he said.  The first was the Council's request for the Secretary-General, after consultations with the Government of the Netherlands, to assist the Libyan Government with the physical arrangements for the safe transfer of the accused from Libya direct to the Netherlands.  This was executed on 5 April, 1999.

The second task for the Secretary-General was to appoint international observers to follow the trial, which he also did.  These observers were not United Nations observers, so they did not have the task of reporting to the Secretary-General.  The role of the Secretary-General was limited to these functions.

As for what happens now, he said that it was a question that should be put primarily to the Scottish authorities.  Obviously there would be questions concerning the travel arrangements for the person acquitted, who would be transferred back to Libya.  With respect to the accused, the defence counsel had already indicated that there might be an appeal.

Responding to a question on the legality of the demands included in the Security Council resolutions, he said it was for the Council itself to construe its resolutions.  There was no doubt that the Council would discuss this matter in the wake of the judgement.  It was not appropriate for him to make any evaluations as to exactly what different texts, referred to in the Security Council resolution, required and what they meant in relation to the resolution itself.

What was the United Nations message to those relatives who argued that this verdict was at best partial justice and that the Libyan State and its leaders should have been on trial? a correspondent asked.

Mr. Corell said every time a crime was committed there were people that were hurt, particularly in cases where many people had died.  It was impossible to imagine the trauma that these people had experienced.  The fact that the trial took place at all was an extraordinary event.  He did not think that this would be a full comfort to those who had suffered from the Lockerbie tragedy, but at least it was a step towards giving some consolation.

Asked if the United Nations would be involved in the travel arrangements for getting the acquitted man back to Libya, he said he had had close contacts with the Dutch authorities in the matter.  The United Nations had to be prepared for various scenarios in a situation where it had no idea what would be the outcome.  He could not comment beyond that.

Responding to other questions, Mr. Corell said that the United Nations was not involved in any of the civil suits seeking compensation from the Libyan Government.  Also, in view of the seriousness of these matters and the highly political nature of them, he did not think it would be helpful to comment on whether the Government of Libya could seek compensation for the harms that they claim to have suffered under the United Nations sanctions regime.  The judgement had only just been released and everybody was now engaged in examining it and drawing conclusions. 

During the briefing, Mr. Corell read a statement by the Secretary-General on the Lockerbie verdict, in which the Secretary-General says that "justice had taken its course and the authority and legitimacy of the legal process must be respected".  The Secretary-General hoped that "with this verdict the process of healing could begin and the relatives could move on with their lives".  [For full text of the statement, please see Press Release SG/SM/7694.]

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