At the announcement of the extradition of Abdullah Senoussi from Mauritania to Libya, families of victims of the attack against the UTA DC-10 express concern that it is not an enough trial for his involvement in this terrorist act.
Abdallah Senoussi, brother of Colonel Gaddafi and former Libyan intelligence chief, was sentenced in 1999 by the Court of First Instance of Paris (in absentia) to life in prison for his involvement in the attack of 19 September 1989 against the UTA DC-10, UT flight 772 which made 170 victims.
Twenty-three years after the attack, the association is still aiming to make the ones responsible for this deadliest attack for France answer for their actions before the court.
Without seeking revenge and with a great confidence in our institutions, we expect Abdallah Senoussi to finally appear before the court and answer for the attack against the UTA DC-10.
Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, president of the Association of Families of the bombing of UTA DC10 and CEO of the French Association of Victims of Terrorism – AfVT.org proclaims:
“We call on France and Libya to establish a legal and diplomatic cooperation, efficient enough for the conditions of a fair criminal trial to be met, allowing 1625 relatives of 170 victims to participate. Today, we mandate our lawyers to do so in France and Libya.”
“First and foremost, we would like to demonstrate that the rule of law and solidarity between victims can triumph over barbarism and terrorism”.
The victims’ families also hope that the other five Libyan convicts sentenced by the Court of Paris will also be caught eventually. The international arrest warrant issued by France in 1999 is valid until 2019.
BACKGROUND: the attack against the UTA DC-10 is the deadliest terrorist attack against France. The 170 passengers and crew were killed in the explosion of the aircraft on September 19, 1989 at 14:59 on French time.
The victims were of 18 nationalities: 54 French nationals, 48 nationals of the Republic of Congo, 25 of Chad, 9 of Italy, 8 U.S. nationals, 5 Cameroonians, 4 of the United Kingdom, 3 nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 3 Canadians, 2 Central Africans, 3 Malians, 3 Swiss, 1 Algerian, 1 Belgian, 1 Bolivian, 1 Greek, 1 Moroccan and 1 Senegalese.
Ever since the attack, the families of victims have continued their struggle for justice and memory preservation:
After two years of difficult negotiations, in January 2004, their association obtained the recognition of the involvement of Libya and compensation for the families of 170 victims.
A memorial was erected in Niger in the Ténéré desert, where the plane crashed.
The association has also built a memorial to N’Djamena – last stop of the DC-10 and rehabilitated the one at Brazzaville, the city of departure.
Contacts :
Mr Guillaume DENOIX de SAINT MARC
Son of Jean-Henri, killed by the attack
+33 6 61 11 96 54 – gsaintmarc@afvt.org
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