File:Koechler-lockerbie-appeal report.pdf

A report on the appeal proceedings at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands

 report  by Hans Koechler dated 26 March 2002

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Subjects: Pan Am Flight 103/The Trial, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
Source: Unknown

Vienna 26 March 2002/P/RE/17553

Wikispooks Comment

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The author was an international observer of the International Progress Organization nominated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the basis of the 1998 UN Security Council resolution 1192

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Concluding Paragraph

Regrettably, the decision of the Appeal Court in the case of Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi v. H. M. Advocate was not a victory for justice, but for power politics. The proceedings have proven that a legally guaranteed separation of powers in a system which prides itself on its commitment to the rule of law is not a sufficient safeguard against political interference so as to ensure the independence and impartiality of criminal proceedings. However, the Lockerbie proceedings have taken place in the common “European space” of human rights and may accordingly – after all means of review in the judicial context of the United Kingdom have been exhausted – be reviewed by the European Court of Human Rights that exercises its jurisdiction on the basis of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Dr. Hans Koechler'