// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Judge allows Lockerbie suspect's alleged confession to be used at US trial
A total of 270 people died in the Lockerbie bombing on 21 December 1988
An alleged confession by a suspect in the Lockerbie bombing will be allowed as evidence in a trial in the United States, a judge has ruled.
Lawyers for Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi had asked for the contested statement to be ruled inadmissible, claiming it was false and made under duress.
But the document will now form a central part of the prosecution case when the postponed trial begins at a federal court in Washington DC later this month.
Libyan Al-Marimi, also known as Masud, has denied making and priming the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Dumfries and Galloway on 21 December 1988.
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All 259 passengers and crew on the airliner were killed, along with another 11 people who died when the wreckage fell on their homes in Lockerbie.
Of the victims, 190 were American and 43 from the UK. It remains the deadliest plane crash and terror attack in British history.
A group representing relatives of American victims of the atrocity described judge's decision as outcome as "another step in our long fight for justice".