International aviation terrorism. The Lockerbie affair between law and politics

摘要

AbstractudOn 21 December 1988 a civil airliner, Pan Am 103, blew apart over the townudof Lockerbie, Scotland. This was a major terrorist attack against civiludaviation, which shocked billions of people and gained worldwide mediaudattention. This thesis examines the Lockerbie case in its political and legaluddimension as a heinous and spectacular example of international aviationudterrorism. First, it discusses the very idea of terrorism and the inherentuddefinitional problems. Then, it focuses on the disaster and its aftermath.udThe thesis approaches the numerous issues this complex case raised asudyears went by. In particular, it portrays the long-standing diplomatic andudpolitical wrangle between the United Kingdom and the United States on oneudside and Libya on the other side.udThe International Court of Justice and the United Nations Security Counciludwere both involved in this case. The thesis tries to depict the inextricableudlink between law and politics within the United Nations framework and theuddifficult balance the judicial and the political powers need striking for audcorrect and fruitful functioning of the whole system. The Lockerbie caseudturned out to be a testing-gown for the inherent consistency of the UnitedudNations set-up. Extradition of the alleged perpetrators of the bombing wasudthe issue at stake. For the first time ever, the Security Council imposedudsanctions on a sovereign state in order to secure to justice the allegedudperpetrators of a terrorist attack. And this raised another pivotal issue thatudthis thesis explores: the adequacy of sanctions as a means for inducing audcountry’s leadership to adopt a certain course of action.udThe Lockerbie case is also a story of unofficial diplomacy where mediation ofudenlightened leaders such as Nelson Mandela proved pivotal. The stance thatudso-called emerging powers took was also crucial to determine the course ofudthe following events. Ultimately, a criminal trial took place and somebodyudwas convicted for the heinous onslaught. This thesis tries to analyse theudLockerbie trial in its peculiarity: for the first time ever, a national Court satudin a foreign country in order to deal with a criminal case. If the parties toudthe dispute had not compromised on the idea of a neutral venue where toudstage the trial, the latter would have probably never come about.udYet, the criminal trial was not the closing chapter of the lengthy Lockerbieudsaga. Of course, for the grieving families of the victims, the fact thatudsomebody was held accountable was better than nothing. Yet, the saidudfamilies also tried to advocate their own cause and get something more thanuda criminal verdict convicting one single person. Restitution beingudimpossible, there was still room for monetary compensation. This thesisudfocuses on the lengthy and painful battle the families of the Lockerbieudvictims engaged in. It was a double battle, actually: one against the airlineudthat had somehow let one of its aircraft crash and one against the LibyanudGovernment, which might be held responsible for the deeds of its agents.udNone of the two was an easy battle to win and yet it was pivotal to fightudboth, if justice was to be achieved.udIn the event, the Lockerbie case came to an end. Somebody was convicted forudPan Am 103 bombing and the families of the victims got some money inudcompensation, both from the airline and the Libyan Government. In theudmeantime, the world geopolitics has been changing. The relationshipudbetween the West and Libya is no longer as tense as it was. The Africanudstate is back to the international fold. This took a long time to be achievedudbut it happened through the use of legal tools. In the aftermath of theuddisaster, striking back by military means might have been an option but itudwas ruled out. In this respect, this thesis tries to show that law and politicsudcan interact in a fruitful way, thus preventing escalations of violence.udWhether they also achieve substantial justice might however beudquestionable.