TWO former officials in Colonel Gaddafi's regime have been acquitted of wasting public money by spending £1.7 billion on payments to the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing.
Ex-foreign minister Abdel-Ati al Obeidi and Mohammed Zwai, the former head of legislature, were accused of arranging compensation for the families to try to get them to drop claims against Libya.
It is the first verdict in a number of cases being brought against key figures in the old Gadaffi regime by the new Libyan Government following his killing in 2011.
The judge gave no reasons for his verdict after the trial, which lasted seven months.
The men will remain in custody while further investigations take place ahead of a wider trial in August, where allegations of war crimes, including mass killings and incitement to rape, will be put to the court.
Gaddafi's son, Saif al Islam, and intelligence chief Abdullah al Senussi are among defendants.
Following the verdict, state prosecutors described the Lockerbie-related charges as a "side case".
State prosecutor Sidiq al Sour said the next trial would look at allegations of "systematic repressive policies practised" by the regime. He said: "This is a major case that relates to many crimes committed – the ordering of mass killings, sabotage, abuse of public funds."
Robert Black, QC, an expert on the Lockerbie bombing who believes Aldebasset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was wrongly convicted of the atrocity, said the case against Obeidi and Zwai was a "bit of a nonsense".
He added: "I am not sure it is the Government that is bringing these decisions to prosecute. Large parts of Tripoli are under the control of large gangs."
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