Air India Bomber Pleads Guilty

KrazyHorse · February 11, 2003, 04:04

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/02/10...nghreyat030210

Finally. And he's probably turning Crown's evidence, which means the other 2 are going down too.

My old high school's physics lab was dedicated to the former physics teacher there who was killed in the bombing.

Lefty Scaevola · February 11, 2003, 11:03

That CBC site is so damn slow. What sort of stone age server or connection do they have?

DinoDoc · February 11, 2003, 11:09

For the people complaining about a slow connection:

Quote:

Reyat pleads guilty to manslaughter
Last Updated Mon, 10 Feb 2003 22:51:10

VANCOUVER - An unexpected twist in the biggest mass murder trial in Canadian history: just six weeks before the Air India trial was set to begin, one of the accused, Inderjit Singh Reyat, has pleaded guilty to one charge of manslaughter.

He has been sentenced to an additional five years in prison.

All other charges against Reyat including first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder are being stayed.

Reyat was charged along with Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri with conspiracy and murder. In 1985, a bomb ripped through Air India flight 182 as it flew near the coast of Ireland, and killed all 329 people on board, most of them Canadian.

Reyat, 51, sat quietly on Monday morning, behind the bulletproof glass the province installed as part of the high security courtroom for the Air India trial.

Dressed in a dark blue turban and beige corduroy jacket, he stood quietly as the court clerk read the new charge against him.

Geoff Gaul, the spokesperson for the prosecution service, described what happened then.

"Inderjit Singh Reyat pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in relation to his role in the explosion and crash of Air India flight 182," he said.

It is a stunning twist. For years, Crown prosecutors in B.C. insisted Reyat was guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. All along, Reyat insisted he was not.

In an interview with CBC News in 1998 he said, "I didn't make that bomb. I pray for them (the victims) every day. If I knew anything I (would) tell them (the police)."

The Crown and defence presented a joint submission of facts that implies they finally believe Reyat. It says Reyat bought the materials for a bomb, but he thought it was going to be used in India to blow up property. He didn't know it was going to kill anyone.

It also says he didn't build or arm the bomb, and that he didn't put it in the suitcase that made its way onto Air India flight 182.

And it says he doesn't know who did.

That's key because there are questions whether he will testify in the upcoming trial of the two other men accused of murder in the Air India bombing.

His lawyers say he did not trade evidence for this plea bargain.

Lawyer David Gibbons says Reyat feels great remorse for his role in the terrorist attack and the effect it had on hundreds of families.

"He thinks about it every day. Remorse is not a word large enough to get near what he feels for their sorrow, and it falls on deaf ears sometimes. It's a huge tragedy," said Gibbons.

It is a tragedy that wiped out entire families and left others devastated.

The victims' families are now struggling to come to grips with a five-year sentence.

The courts say Reyat will have served a 25-year sentence given the time he's been behind bars awaiting extradition awaiting the Air India trial, and for his other manslaughter conviction.

The other conviction is for the bombing at the Narita airport in Japan that killed two baggage handlers on the same day as the Air India explosion.

Seems like a really generous deal but if it gets the other two, who am I to judge.

KrazyHorse · February 11, 2003, 17:48

Apparently he didn't know much about what was going on, and when it's combined with all the time he's spent in jail so far it'll work out to 25 years or so...

KrazyHorse · February 11, 2003, 17:48

Funny. The cbc site is zippety quick for me, but Apolyton has been slow as hell for ages.

DinoDoc · February 11, 2003, 18:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Frogger
Apparently he didn't know much about what was going on, and when it's combined with all the time he's spent in jail so far it'll work out to 25 years or so...

The deal makes more sense to me now.

Wezil · February 11, 2003, 18:19

I have been finding the same slowness on this site...

Twenty five years (total for all crimes - of which he'll serve fifteen) is pretty light for 331 deaths (329 on plane, 2 in Japan). Only snag in the sentence for him was that the Japan charges didn't arise out of the same fact situation. He would be done his time now if that were the case.

Obviously he must have something to offer the Crown despite the public statements of his attorney. Can he provide enough to convict the other two of the more serious offences? Let's hope so.

Was it a good deal? We can't say without knowing the Crown's evidence against Reyat and what Reyat will say in the upcoming trials. We have to wait.

DinoDoc · February 11, 2003, 18:22

What was the motive behind the attack anyway?

KrazyHorse · February 11, 2003, 18:25

Sikh nationalism/revenge for the Indian attack on the holiest (?) Sikh shrine

notyoueither · February 11, 2003, 23:50

Yes, holiest.

The Golden Temple in... Amritsar.

Oerdin · February 12, 2003, 00:09

He's a Sikh nationalist so he blows up a Canadian plane?

notyoueither · February 12, 2003, 00:48

Air India, flying from Canada to India.

KrazyHorse · February 12, 2003, 00:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Oerdin
He's a Sikh nationalist so he blows up a Canadian plane?

Plus they lived in Vancouver or thereabouts. It was easier to attack an Air India plane than actually go to India.

notyoueither · February 12, 2003, 00:51

The 'cell' was located in Canada. The bombs were planted on the planes in Canada.

I think the plane splashed in international waters. Either that or the Irish were not as able to investigate and prosecute as Canada. For whatever reason, the jurisdiction is Indian/Canadian. Canada has the creeps.

KrazyHorse · February 12, 2003, 00:53

It crashed before crossing into Ireland, so I think the last territory it flew over has jurisdiction, like the Lockerbie bombing.

RedFred · February 12, 2003, 02:20

I am not pleased with the lightness of the sentence. If this guy actually believed that his bomb was going to be used to damage property in India they should sentence him another 50 years for stupidity.

The other instance of the "short but feeble arm of Canadian justice" that seemed unbelievably lenient was sentences for those two street racers that ran over a pedestrian, killing her. They don't even have to do jail time. Just "house arrest" that will allow them to go to work, church, etc. and likely will not be policed too carefully.

KrazyHorse · February 12, 2003, 02:24

That one I'm pissed off at.

The Crown's appealing, though.