But the United States still treats these nations as outcasts by breaking off relations, forbidding U.S. citizens to visit or do business there and banning trade. The Lockerbie trial is about an American plane that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. The plane was on the way from London to New York when a bomb went off, breaking the plane into thousands of pieces. Investigators think the bomb was hidden in a suitcase that was placed on the plane in Malta, a small island off the coast of Libya. The two men were charged with murder and conspiracy.
American investigators claim they are professional Libyan spies.
Many believed the trial would last up to two years. Click here for a timeline of the case. The British and American governments spent the last decade investigating the crash in 20 countries and gathered quite a bit of information. In 85 days of hearings, the court heard 235 witnesses. The Libyan defense called three witnesses.