German lawyers make progress to settle disco bombing claims with Libya

Saturday, June 12th 2004, 9:56 am

By: News On 6

BERLIN (AP) _ Libyan envoys and German lawyers made progress in talks to settle compensation claims over a 1986 Berlin disco bombing that killed three people, including two U.S. soldiers, and injured 229 others, one of the attorneys said Saturday.

But the two sides have not yet agreed on an amount of compensation and will hold a sixth round of negotiations in July, said Sven Leistikow, one of the German lawyers, after Friday and Saturday's talks.

``We have not yet heard figures that we can sign up to,'' Leistikow said in a telephone interview. ``We can only say that we made positive steps toward each other.''

The April 5, 1986 blast at the La Belle disco, a hangout for U.S. soldiers in then-West Berlin, killed two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounded 229 other people.

The United States blamed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for the bombing and retaliated with airstrikes 10 days after the attack.

A Berlin court ruled in 2001 that the bombing was organized by the Libyan secret service and aided by the Libyan Embassy in then-communist East Berlin. It convicted four people for the bombing.

Libya's recent settling of the Pan Am and UTA airliner bombing cases _ part of Gadhafi's effort to end his country's pariah status _ have raised expectations of compensation for the La Belle bombing.

However, envoys of the Gadhafi International Foundation for Charity Associations and the German side have remained apart over the amount to be paid to 163 non-U.S. victims who suffered physical and psychological injury.

Leistikow would not say if he expects an agreement in next month's talks. ``All six (lawyers) are of the opinion that it is worth carrying on,'' he said. ``The signals are positive on both sides.''

Lawyers are seeking separate compensation in U.S. courts for the American victims.

Last year, Libya accepted responsibility for the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people and agreed to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to the victims' families.

On Jan. 9, Libya signed a $170 million compensation agreement with families of victims of a 1989 French UTA passenger jet bombing.