Senators Lautenberg, Menendez, Schumer and Gillibrand call on White House to ensure justice to victims of Libyan Terrorism
Request the Prompt Nomination of Two Commissioners to Foreign Claims Settlement Commission
MT. PLEASANT, SC - Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called on the White House to ensure justice for scores of American victims of Libyan terrorism through "the prompt nomination of two qualified and capable individuals to be commissioners on the Department of Justice Foreign Claims Settlement Commission (FCSC)" in a letter released yesterday. Read the full letter online.
"Since the FCSC has to have two commissioners to have a quorum and currently has only one, many individuals who have been victims of terrorist acts have been effectively denied the compensation that they deserve," commented Motley Rice lawyer Ronald L. Motley, who represents multiple family members of Libyan terrorism victims. "I applaud Senators Lautenberg, Menendez, Schumer and Gillibrand for elevating this issue to President Obama's attention."
"There are currently over 200 claims from victims of Libyan terrorism awaiting adjudication," the letter states. The individuals were victims of Libyan terrorist acts such as the 1986 LaBelle Discotheque bombing in Berlin, Germany and the Libyan-supported bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. After Libya was removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, the country was required to settle all claims by U.S. citizens against it for alleged terrorist actions under the Libyan Claims Resolution Act (LCRA), which became law in 2008. All suits filed by U.S. citizens against Libya had to be dismissed to participate in the fund.
"All lawsuits have now been dismissed," Motley said. "This was required under the LCRA. The innocent victims have done what the law required of them. It is time for the FCSC to be fully commissioned and its duties discharged. Justice requires nothing less."
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