LONDON: A police officer in the UK is launching a private prosecution of a Libyan over the killing of his colleague 40 years ago, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was shot dead outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984 when gunmen in the building opened fire on a rally outside.
On the 40th anniversary of Fletcher’s death, John Murray, who “cradled her as she lay down” on the day of the shooting, is demanding that the remaining key suspect in the case is tried for murder.
The first court hearing in the case concerning Saleh Ibrahim Mabrouk is expected in the coming weeks.
On the day of the shooting in 1984, crowds had assembled outside the embassy to protest against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Shots were fired at the demonstration from inside the building, hitting Fletcher on the street outside.
Following a 10-day siege, then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher permitted the Libyans in the embassy to return home due to diplomatic immunity.
Forty years since the incident, nobody has been charged in relation to Fletcher’s death. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service in 2017 dropped a potential case against Mabrouk, a former minister in the Qaddafi government, in order to prevent national security secrets from being heard in court.
But Murray, who is now retired, said his legal team is launching a private prosecution for murder against Mabrouk, who was found “jointly liable” for the shootings in 2019 despite not carrying a weapon during the incident.
The former minister denied wrongdoing in a response sent to the High Court from Libya in 2019, in a case filed by Murray.
In the private prosecution, the retired police officer’s legal team must overcome a series of hurdles to demand the court bring Mabrouk to the UK.
Murray told the BBC that Fletcher is “sorely missed” ahead of a memorial ceremony on Wednesday, held near the site of the shooting.
“The last few words that Yvonne heard before she died was my voice telling her that I would find out who and why this had happened to her,” he said.
“I also said to her that I would get justice. That was a promise I made. That is a promise I will certainly keep, and the fight goes on.”
Sir Mark Rowley, Metropolitan Police commissioner, said: “WPC Yvonne Fletcher was just 25 when she was callously murdered. She was simply doing her job, policing protest, not unlike what many officers do so often today.”