February 27, 2004
Lawyers for accused Air India bomber Ajaib Singh Bagri will argue in
B.C. Supreme Court today that a key witness against their client should
be publicly identified when he testifies next week.
The name of the man, who comes from the same Punjabi
village as Bagri, has been covered by a sweeping ban on publication
shielding the names of 10 Crown witnesses, at least temporarily.
Bagri's lawyers have said in written submissions that
there is no justification for maintaining a ban and that it interferes
with their client's right to a fair trial.
People who know the man and may have information about
him helpful to the defence could see his name in media reports and come
forward, they argue.
The witness' evidence "should be subject to public
scrutiny, not just by the few dozen spectators who are able to attend
in the public gallery, but by the many thousands of interested people
around the world," Bagri's team said in its submission.
But the New York-area resident has told the RCMP he
would prefer that the ban remain on his name as a security measure.
Crown prosecutors support continuing the ban.
In an affidavit supporting the ban, RCMP officer Patricia
MacCormack said: "It has been my experience that potential witnesses
have expressed reluctance to be involved at all in the Air India investigation.
"The RCMP is concerned that the publication of
the names or photographs or likeness of some of the Crown witnesses
could lead them to become the subject of threats and intimidation following
which it might prove extremely difficult to maintain their participation
in the Air India trial," she said.
The witness, who was paid more than $450,000 by the
RCMP after he agreed to testify, is expected to say that Bagri took
credit for the 1985 bombing plot during a meeting with the man in the
U.S. some weeks after the terrorist attack.
Bagri's legal team has also argued that the man has
faced no threats since charges were laid against Bagri and co-accused
Ripudaman Singh Malik in October 2000.
Crown spokesman Geoff Gaul would not confirm whether
the witness has arrived in B.C., but said the scheduling of the man's
evidence will be addressed today.
Justice Ian Bruce Josephson has not said when he will
hand down his ruling on a critical issue involving the other key witness
against Bagri, a Vancouver seamstress who police believed was his girlfriend
at one point.
Josephson has already ruled that the witness, whose
identity is protected by court order, feigned memory loss when she took
the stand as a Crown witness in December and February.
Because she claimed not to remember the incriminating
information attributed to her by the RCMP and Canada's spy agency, Crown
prosecutor Richard Cairns then applied to have the statements, accepted
as her true evidence, rather than her sworn testimony.
Bagri's lawyer, Michael Code, spent more than three
days arguing against the Crown application, saying the woman had actually
denied in her testimony that she said some of the things attributed
to her years earlier by police.
Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri face eight
counts, including murder, in two bombings of Air India planes on June
23, 1985. The first bomb exploded at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing
two baggage handlers. Fifty-four minutes later, Air India Flight 182
exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 on board.
Ran with fact box "Air India: The Case Unfolds",
which has been appended to the end of the story.