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Air India Trial; Not Guilty Verdict
Topic Started: Mar 17 2005, 04:59 PM (256 Views)
Canucks fan


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas...reut/index.html

[size=1]VANCOUVER, Canada (Reuters) -- A Canadian judge has cleared two Sikh militants of involvement in the 1985 bombing of an Air India jetliner over Ireland's Atlantic coast, history's deadliest bombing of a civilian airplane.

Shocked families of the 329 victims of the bombing called the ruling devastating and urged the Canadian government to establish a public inquiry into the crime and how it was investigated.

British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Ian Bruce Josephson found Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty of murder and conspiracy in connection with the bombing over the Atlantic as well as a related explosion at Tokyo's Narita airport that killed two people.

Judge Josephson ruled the testimony against the two men was not credible.

Members of the victims' families wept in the courtroom as the judge read the verdicts following an epic, 19-month trial. Malik, 58, and Bagri, 55, smiled at their family members in court when the hearing ended.

"Oh my God. Oh my God," one of the victims' relatives cried to herself. The defendants' relatives, smiled and hugged each other outside the court.

Josephson, who heard 115 witnesses during one of the most complicated and costly cases in Canadian history, called the bombing "fanaticism at its basest and most inhumane level" and agreed the devices that exploded off the Irish coast and in Japan probably originated in Vancouver.

But he said he could not believe key prosecution witnesses who testified that Malik, a wealthy Vancouver businessman, and Bagri, a Kamloops, British Columbia, sawmill worker and Sikh priest, had admitted their roles in the plot.

The judge ruled that justice would not be served if there was any doubt of the defendants' guilt.

More than 70 relatives of the bombing victims came from around the world to hear the verdict, delivered in a specially built C$7.4 million ($6.2 million) high-security court.

"I cannot believe the verdict. All those witnesses would not have come forward and risked their lives. All those poor families. Not in a million years did I think this could happen," said Jeanne Bakermans, a former Canadian Pacific Airlines ticket agent and a witness in the case.

"Today 20 years on we have lost our families all over again to the Canadian justice system," said Sanjay Lazar, who had come to Vancouver from Mumbai to hear the verdict.

Revenge motive
Prosecutors accused the two men of seeking revenge for the Indian Army's 1984 storming of Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar. That operation, aimed at ousting militants in the temple, left hundreds of people dead.

The Indian-born Sikh separatists living in Canada were charged with planning to destroy two aircraft simultaneously.

One bomb destroyed Flight 182 while it was on its way from Canada to India, via London, on June 23, 1985. The other exploded 54 minutes earlier in baggage being transferred at Narita airport to Air India Flight 301.

Malik and Bagri were arrested in October 2000.

The defense acknowledged there may have been a conspiracy, but they denied Bagri and Malik were part of it.

"I want to repeat publicly today what I have told the authorities numerous times since 1985, that I had absolutely no involvement in any of these criminal activities," Bagri said in a statement read outside the court by his daughter, Inderdeep Kaur Bagri.

Malik left the court without commenting, trying to avoid reporters as he drove away his family's luxury car.

A prosecution spokesman said they have not decided whether to appeal. Prosecutors have 30 days to make a decision.

"This was no doubt the most complex prosecution in crown counsel history. It was a case that we were satisfied needed to be presented to the court," Geoffrey Gaul told reporters.

The case was made difficult by problems in the long investigation, including the erasure of wiretaps of the suspects in the weeks before and after the Air India explosions.

Malik and Bagri were originally scheduled to be tried with Inderjit Singh Reyat, who was accused of helping to make the bombs, but he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge before the trial began. Reyat was called as a witness, but denied knowing who asked him to assist with the bombs.

In his ruling, the judge referred to Reyat as "an unmitigated liar," whose testimony "bordered on the absurd."

Police say the mastermind of the plot was Talwinder Singh Parmar, a founder of the Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa, who was killed by Indian police in October 1992.

The names of several other suspects were raised during the trial, and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said the investigation will remain active.

"We are very disappointed today, but our disappointment does not get in the way of our investigation," RCMP Sgt John Ward said.

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Dick Ver3
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you copy and paste it!
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No, really? :rolleyes:
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Wave
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wasnt this canada's biggest homicide?
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Canucks fan


I believe so.

It was the biggest act of airline terrorism until 9/11. And yet the American media basically choose to ignore this whole trial because they think Scott Peterson and Robert Blake who were each accused of killing one person (I guess you could say 2 for Scott) was more important to cover then two people accused of killing 300+ :rolleyes:
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Dick Ver3
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You copy and paste it since the front is not the same, + I cant even type the all word that should me capital after the (.) YOU RETARD!!! I AINT BLIND!!!
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Canucks fan


Maybe you're not blind but you are quite stupid and obviously aren't to familiar with the notion of sarcasm. And the font is not the same because I chose to put it that way, not because I copied and pasted it. And what the hell is your problem anyways if I copied and pasted it. I posted a link to the article. It's not like I'm stealing they're work. I was simply posting a topic here to let you guys know of this event and to hear your opinions on it. Don't you agree that it's more convienent to have all the info you need right in your face when you open the topic, instead of having to look it all up yourself?
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Dick Ver3
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No, really
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Shaheer
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Blood Generation

aah too much to read can someone summarize this in 1 sentence?! I know it was canada's biggest homicidal and I know those 2 indians were not guilty.
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GO OILERS GO!! 24-22-4
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marklaw
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GO FLAMES GO

well atleast the investigation will remain active
Jinzo: well nintendo wants to get rid of the kiddy image i Guess

Guylebrown:and in doing so drones need to highlight every possible quote that involves nintendo not having a kiddy image
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monkeyman
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its MONKEYTIME
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the mighty cheesecake


no its not... not now... and it is quite hard to sumarise in one sentance unless you just have lots and lots of ands... and a very very long sentance! but i dont see much of a debate or anything here except about copying and pasteing
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taz3r
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blaz3 a heat

monkeyman has the final word
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