A British court has found a former aide to slain Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi liable in the killing of a police officer outside the Libyan embassy in London 37 years ago.
Officer Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was killed while policing a peaceful anti-Gaddafi protest in April 1984.
John Murray, 66, brought a civil claim against Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk before the United Kingdom’s High Court, seeking a nominal amount of £1, in an attempt to get justice for his friend and colleague.
According to an AFP report, the court ruled Mabrouk was jointly liable for the killing.
During the three-day trial in London, High Court Judge Martin Spencer ruled Tuesday there was enough evidence to support that Mabrouk was an “active participant” in the decision to respond to the antigovernment protest by shooting at the demonstrators.
Murray’s legal team argued that although Mabrouk did not fire any of the shots that killed Fletcher, he was “instrumental” in her death through his “orchestration” of the violent response to the student protests.
Fletcher was killed by bullets fired from an embassy window while working at the protest.
Murray’s lawyers argued that Mabrouk had implemented a plan ordered by Gaddafi himself to use violence to quell the protests.
Fletcher’s death led to an 11-day siege of the building and the severing of diplomatic ties between the UK and Libya.
“My promise to Fletcher to find those responsible for the shooting and to get justice has taken a huge step forward after all these years,” Murray said.
He made the promise to Fletcher as he held her in an ambulance during her dying moments.
Mabrouk was arrested in 2015 in connection with Fletcher’s death, but London’s Metropolitan Police force said in 2017 that charges could not be brought because key evidence had been kept secret on national security grounds.
