By Jeff Lipton
After 12 long years of waiting, the families of Joseph K. Miller of Woodmere and Chris Papadopoulos of Lawrence-and the relatives of other victims of downed Pan Am Flight 103-finally have had their day in court.
They have waited for some form of justice since Dec. 21, 1988, when the New York-bound plane was blown out of the sky by a terrorist bomb, killing all 259 victims aboard and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.
The trial of the two men accused in the bombing of the plane, which began on Wednesday, May 3, 2000, in a converted army camp base at Camp Zeist near the Netherlands, has come to a close. After eight months of hearing testimony, a special three-judge Scottish Criminal Court panel began deliberations on Thursday, Jan. 18. The court case was adjourned until Tuesday, Jan. 30, when the panel was scheduled to announce a date for the verdict. If convicted, the two defendants face life sentences on charges of mass murder. A verdict can be expected as early as Wednesday, Jan. 31, but most believe it will occur on Feb. 6.
The two suspects in the bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, both of Libya, pleaded innocent to the charges and the defense has suggested that the evidence is strictly circumstantial.
The two defendants were charged in 1991 with allegedly planting a suitcase rigged with the bomb, but it took until last year to bring them to trial. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi surrendered the two defendants after the U.S. exhausted all of its diplomatic resources. But the victims' families are upset that those who masterminded the bombing will probably go unpunished.
The two local families say they have barely been following the trial.
"I don't pay very much attention to it 11 to 12 years after the fact," said Judge Joel Gewanter of Atlantic Beach, who was the brother-in-law of Papadopoulos. "There's a saying, 'Justice delayed is not justice at all.' If they are guilty, I certainly would like to see them convicted. But at this late stage, the results of the trial really have no impact on me personally.
"Big deal. What does it really mean?"
He added, "Going after the two guys who pulled the trigger without getting the general who ordered the bombing is almost meaningless," referring to the fact that Gadhafi, who many believe was behind the terrorist attack, may get off scot-free.
Even though some families have elected to travel to the Netherlands to attend the trial, Gewanter said, "It never occurred to me to go. Some people are not able to rest until this comes to a conclusion. For some people, that's all they live for, the outcome of a trial, and that's a tragedy.
"For many, it has become their life's crusade and apparently it is difficult to put this thing behind them," he said. "My sister still gets quite upset. We don't dare call her on Dec. 21."
Two weeks after the bombing, Gewanter said he suffered a heart attack as a result of all the stress he endured during that time.
Gewanter, who is the acting village justice in Cedarhurst, said he was originally upset when he learned that the State Department had received a warning that the plane might be targeted by terrorists and the U.S. government alerted its diplomatic staff but never shared that information with passengers.
"If the government had given the average U.S. citizen the same opportunity to protect themselves that they gave our diplomatic staff, there's a good chance he [Papadopoulos] would still be alive today," Gewanter said.
Gewanter said his brother-in-law was an agent for major shoe companies in the U.S. and often traveled to Europe on business, taking pictures of the newest styles of shoes being produced in Paris and other countries. "He would have never gotten on that plane, had he known [about the warning]," Gewanter said. When his brother-in-law heard about the outbreak of violence in other countries, he would say, "Who needs it? I'll get my pictures someplace else," the judge said.
Gewanter also was the attorney in a civil suit against Pan Am, in which the airline was accused of negligence, the outcome of which resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement for his sister in 1995. The bomb was believed to have been planted in luggage, which was loaded on board in Frankfurt, Germany, he said. "Apparently, they never screened the luggage."
Joseph Miller, a 56-year-old certified public accountant, was returning from London on a one-day business trip when the plane exploded. He was a treasurer of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
His wife, Rhoda, said she has been following the trial somewhat on TV and in the newspapers, but remains cynical about the whole process.
"Yes, I've been following what's been going on and I'm not too optimistic about it," she said last week. "It's ridiculous. The whole thing is a sham."
The two defendants were delivered by Libya seven months after intense negotiations between Gadhafi and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
