Dr AQ Khan link: 3 Swiss to avoid trial in nuclear case, says report
Swiss prosecutors will opt to avoid a public trial for three Swiss men suspected of giving nuclear weapons technology and supplies to a rogue network in Pakistan, a newspaper reported on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.
The case is politically sensitive for Switzerland and the US because of alleged national security implications, the men’s alleged CIA ties, and repeated instances of evidence being destroyed. It involves charges of violating Swiss nonproliferation laws. The Federal Prosecutors Office in Bern was quoted as saying it plans to use a shortened procedure to require a penalty but no trial if the nation’s top criminal court doesn’t object and the men plead guilty, the Zurich weekly newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported.
Bern prosecutors’ office did not comment immediately.
Urs Tinner, his brother Marco and their father Friedrich have been under investigation by Swiss authorities for almost a decade for supplying equipment and technical knowhow to the network led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2011.
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@Nasir:
I can assure you that every person who sold equipment knew EXACTLY what it was meant for. They may be money-grabbers but they were/are not stupid.
The Russian who it appears has helped Iran says he did not know what his expertise would be used for. Naturally he will say that. Why embarrass his Irani friends where he spent some six years?
Busniss is busniss for wast they sale any thing you name it now what i wanna cry hahaha
Out of legal point of view it was problematic that evidence was destroyed. The due process for the defense was hence denied. According to the "Sonntagszeitung", the Tinners were not the only ones who delivered high-tech equipments to AQ Khan, which were later smuggled into Iran. It said the IAEA alleged other Swiss companies being involved too. So when it comes to business, arms deals know no mercy and scruples.
"The case is politically sensitive for Switzerland and the US because of alleged national security implications, the men’s alleged CIA ties, and repeated instances of evidence being destroyed".
Interesting... All westerns sold equipment to Pakistan for money thinking that this equipment will be wasted with no use and now they call it AQ Khan network.