Wed, Mar 16, 2005
Victims' Families Wept Openly In Court
A Canadian judge on Wednesday cleared two Sikhs from India on
charges of murder and conspiracy in the bombing that destroyed an
Air India flight off the Irish coast. The verdict ended a trial
that had lasted 19 months.
"Oh my God. Oh my God," one of the victims' relatives cried to
herself, according to Reuters, as many of the victims shed tears
when the verdict was read.
Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were found not
guilty in two separate bombings -- one of which is listed as
history's deadliest single air disaster. All 329 people on board
Air India Flight 182 from Canada to London were killed when a bomb
blew it out of the sky on June 23rd, 1985. The other bomb exploded
54 minutes earlier at Tokyo's Narita airport, as the bag in which
it was hidden was transferred to Air India Flight 301, killing two
workers.
Prosecutors said Malik and Bagri were out for revenge after the
1984 storming of the Golden Temple in the Indian town of Amristar
by Indian Army troops. The military operation left hundreds of
Sikhs dead.
Neither of the suspects on trial were considered the masterminds
behind the operation. That title, according to prosecutors, went to
Talwinder Singh Parmar, a leading member of the Sikh militant group
Babbar Khalsa.
Malik and Bagri, both residents of western Canada, were arrested
in October, 2000.
Several other names came up during the 19 month trial, which
took place in an extra-secure courtroom especially built for the
trial. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says its investigation
into the bombings will remain active.
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