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Morning News

Pan Am Flight 103 Trial: Families of Victims Watch Closely After Years of Waiting

Aired May 3, 2000 - 10:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start this hour with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The 1988 explosion killed 270 people. The long wait for this trial has held hostage their survivors.

This morning, these two men, alleged intelligence agents for Libya, entered not-guilty pleas in the trial. They say Palestinians are responsible for the world's worst act of air terrorism. The pleas of innocence were expected, but the trial itself has been mired in doubt for more than a decade. Libya had refused to surrender the defendants, and surrendered them last year after a decade of sanctions.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: That trial expected to last about a year. And for the relatives of the victims, the wait to begin the proceedings has been agonizing.

CNN's Colleen McEdwards now with that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The slash in the ground where Pan Am Flight 103 went down in Lockerbie, and almost twelve years later, open wounds.

BARBARA ZWYNENBURG, VICTIM'S MOTHER: There's thousands and thousands and thousands of plane flights every day around the world, and why did our kid have to get on the wrong one?

MCEDWARDS: John and Barbara Zwynenburg lost their son, Mark. They want answers from this trial.

JOHN ZWYNENBURG, VICTIM'S FATHER: The outcome I'm looking for is to hear, see, feel, smell the truth, OK, the facts.

MCEDWARDS: A massive, meticulous investigation found evidence of a bomb believed hidden inside a radio in a suitcase. But how did it get on Pan Am 103 undetected? And why? Was it retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya two years before the crash, or revenge against the U.S. for mistakenly shooting down an Iranian airliner?

In England, Jim Swire, who lost his daughter, has led the families' campaign to have this case brought to trial. JIM SWIRE, VICTIM'S FATHER: The court is of vital importance because it will drive a coach and horses through most of the conspiracy theories that we've heard in the last 10 years.

MCEDWARDS: Since Pan Am 103, relatives of victims have helped push through improved safety measures now in place around the world. But many say the U.N. sanctions against Libya should not have been suspended when the suspects were handed over, and they worry the United States and Britain won't be hard enough on Libya, will put concerns about oil, economics and diplomacy ahead of justice.

KATHLEEN FLYNN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: If we don't get to go up the chain of command, there is only partial justice as far as these two Libyans are concerned. We want the full culpability of who was responsible for the murder of all those people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: So as this trial actually began, those relatives were watching very closely. And what they saw was a somewhat significant step by the defense. It is actually naming names, actually saying who it plans to try to incriminate in order to try to absolve the two accused.

Among others it is planning to point a finger at a little known Palestinian group and Lebanese man who was already jailed in Sweden for terrorism. Two of the people named are actually witnesses in the prosecution's witness list.

Back to you.

HEMMER: Colleen, I know a number of relatives have actually been given the option to sit in the very first row inside that courtroom. How many relatives have come to the trial thus far there in the Netherlands?

MCEDWARDS: The numbers we have are rough, Bill. The relatives of the victims, the court officials estimate about 40 families are here. Some of them are actually coming here for the duration, have actually set up home in the Netherlands and plan to stay as long as they can. Others will be popping in and out. Still others who haven't been able to make it have special provisions available to them. They are able to watch it on a special television feed from some locations, and they have access to a special Web site so they can keep abreast of the trial. On the defense side, the side of the accused, about 16 relatives of the two Libyan suspects are here to support them as well.

HEMMER: All right, Colleen McEdwards live there at Camp Zeist in Holland.

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