Netherlands Courts

The United States on Friday rejected a Libyan call for negotiations on the procedures for a trial in the Netherlands of two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, ordering the government in Tripoli to turn them over immediately. Libya has agreed in principle that the men can stand trial in the Netherlands in a special court applying Scottish law, but it says it is not bound by an agreement between the British and Dutch governments on arrangements for the trial.

The United States on Friday rejected a Libyan call for negotiations on the procedures for a trial in the Netherlands of two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, ordering the government in Tripoli to turn them over immediately. Libya has agreed in principle that the men can stand trial in the Netherlands in a special court applying Scottish law, but it says it is not bound by an agreement between the British and Dutch governments on arrangements for the trial.

A Dutch appeals court overturned the murder conviction of an Irish national and upheld the acquittal of three others accused of killing two Australians during a wave of IRA attacks in Europe. The court said there was no evidence to prove that Gerard Harte, 27; Donna Maguire, 24; Sean Hick, 30, and Paul Hughes, 27, carried out or aided the attack that took the lives of vacationing lawyers Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose in May, 1990.

A Dutch appeals court overturned the murder conviction of an Irish national and upheld the acquittal of three others accused of killing two Australians during a wave of IRA attacks in Europe. The court said there was no evidence to prove that Gerard Harte, 27; Donna Maguire, 24; Sean Hick, 30, and Paul Hughes, 27, carried out or aided the attack that took the lives of vacationing lawyers Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose in May, 1990.