MANNHEIM (Germany) March 17: A German engineer went on trial on Friday accused of supplying Libya with nuclear weapons technology through the smuggling network of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Gotthard Lerch, 63, denies seeking to help Libya build a gas ultra-centrifuge capable of enriching uranium for use in a nuclear bomb.
The court said he was the first alleged member of Dr Khan’s network to face trial.
Prosecutors were to tell the court in the southwestern city of Mannheim that Lerch was a key member of the network.
Dr Khan has admitted involvement in passing nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He has been under house arrest in Pakistan since 2004.
The first morning of the trial was taken up with objections from the defence lawyers about three of the judges who are hearing the case.
The defence claimed the judges were prejudiced because they had worked closely with the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which as the domestic intelligence agency helped prepare the prosecution case.
The judges had also written a press release about the case in which they described Libya as running “a nuclear weapons programme”. Libya’s nuclear ambitions were peaceful, the defence claimed.
Lerch was charged after a German cargo ship was stopped on the way to Libya in 2003. It was found to be carrying technology to build a centrifuge.
In a dramatic diplomatic move, Libya announced soon after the discovery that it was giving up efforts to build nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, allowing the former pariah state to return to the international fold.
Lerch was arrested last year on an international arrest warrant in Switzerland, where he lives, and was handed over to German authorities.
Investigators believe he earned 28 million euros ($34m) from supplying the technology to Libya from 1999 onwards. It is alleged the parts were channelled through South Africa and Malaysia.
Lerch denies charges of breaking German laws on the control of weapons and export regulations.
Der Spiegel magazine reported this week that Lerch had been incriminated by key members of the Khan network.
The report said they included Seyed Abu Tahir, a Sri Lankan who prosecutors say was a middleman between the Khan network and Libya.
Der Spiegel said the trial would be closely watched because the UN nuclear watchdog suspects the Khan network has supplied Iran with centrifuges as sophisticated as those it tried to provide to Libya.
