DATE=8/5/1999 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=EMBASSY BOMBINGS - LEGAL CASE NUMBER=5-44009 BYLINE=ELAINE JOHANSON DATELINE=NEW YORK CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Five men are in custody in New York on murder charges related to last year's bombings of the U-S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania - which claimed over 200 lives. But, so far, no date has been set for a trial. VOA correspondent Elaine Johanson reports on the status of the legal case against the accused terrorists: TEXT: Seventeen people have been formally charged in the embassy bombings. Besides the five already in New York, three are in Britain, awaiting extradition to the United States. Nine defendants are still fugitives, including exiled Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden - the alleged mastermind of the bombings. The U-S government has put a five million-dollar bounty on the heads of the wanted men. The U-S Attorney's office in New York would like all 17 defendants to stand trial together. But that is not considered a likely scenario. Meanwhile, efforts are underway to try the five men in custody. A number of preliminary hearings have already been held. A so-called "conference hearing" is scheduled for September 28, which allows prosecutors and defense attorneys to review the status of the case in the presence of a judge. Evidence will be weighed. The defense could challenge certain parts of it or ask to see more. Robert Louden - director of the Criminal Justice Center at New York's John Jay College - says the process may look cumbersome to outsiders or grieving families of the victims. But he says U-S prosecutors have the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and it is the job of the attorneys for the defendants to make that burden more difficult. Under the U-S system, it is called protecting the rights of the accused: //LOUDEN ACT// The prosecution is going to constantly be making sure that they have the strongest possible case before they go into the trial part of the case. The defense is going to constantly be making motions and requesting hearings to try to get various parts of the case separated or dismissed or downgraded so that they can weaken the case of the prosecutor. So you have this constant building of the case on the side of the prosecution and a constant attack, if you will, on the case by the defense. //END ACT// Mr. Louden believes the embassy bombing case actually is moving along at a fairly rapid pace - despite the legal maneuvering: //LOUDEN ACT// If you track most major felonious trials, from time of event is when the clock starts running, if you will. But from time of apprehension and actual arrest until time of trial, it's not uncommon to be a year or more than a year. It's part of the process and it's also part of reflecting other caseloads and workloads in the government by people involved. So, the fact that we're a year later and already talking about getting ready for trial is pretty quick really. //END ACT// The agenda of the embassy bombing case, for the most part, has been filled with pre-trial hearings that generate little media attention. A recent session in June was an exception. One of the defendants jumped from his seat, bolted past U-S marshals and tried to attack the judge - who had refused to read into the record a letter the defendant had written. The courtroom erupted into chaos. The 71-year old jurist scrambled behind a chair amid screams of "Allah Akbar!" ("God is great!") from the other defendants. Order was restored. The attacker showed marks of being restrained. But nobody was really hurt. The case has since moved back to the track of low-key, high stakes legal arguments among the attorneys, as they pursue justice American-style. (Signed) NEB/NY/EJ/LSF/ENE/kl 05-Aug-1999 13:47 PM EDT (05-Aug-1999 1747 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .