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Moussaoui Lawyers to Continue Work on Case
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Moussaoui and court-appointed lawyers were granted more time to prepare for trial in order to go through volumes of evidence
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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, Aug 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Court-appointed attorneys for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in connection with the September 11 attacks, continue to work on his case despite the Frenchman's preference to the contrary.
In a decision made public by the court, Judge Leonie Brinkema authorized the three lawyers assigned to defend Moussaoui, who has called them as "bloodsuckers," to address court requests in preparation for the trial, now due to open January 6.
Moussaoui is working through an intermediary to get legal help from the attorneys he despises as he prepares for trial, reports news agencies.
After withdrawing guilty plea on July 25, Moussaoui faced the realization he had to prepare a defense for a case that could end with his execution. He said in court that day he would begin indirect contact with the lawyers but added: "It is most disgusting."
"Before filing any such motions, standby counsel must provide a copy to the defendant for his review," Brinkema said in her ruling, noting that such a measure was to allow Moussaoui, who is defending himself in the case, to study the documents.
The aim is "to assist Mr. Moussaoui in his trial preparation and to ensure their ability to defend this case if the defendant loses his pro se status," Brinkema said.
A defense team motion a week earlier said Moussaoui "recently re-engaged communication" with the lawyers but did not want them initiating motions on his behalf.
However, even with their help, Moussaoui still calls the team "bloodsuckers" in his motions, commenting, "As a protection against any pig disease there will be no more unsanitize contact with the affected horde of standby lawyers," he wrote in an Aug. 8 motion.
Last week Brinkema postponed Moussaoui's trial until January to give his defense more time to prepare.
Moussaoui - who earlier won the right to mount his own defense - has complained he needs more time to prepare.
The court-appointed standby lawyers had already asked for the delay, arguing they needed extra time to examine the 1,189 computer disks, 1,262 audio cassettes and 755 pages of confidential information linked to the case and to find and subpoena witnesses for the defense.
The court, meanwhile, has refused to allow Charles Freeman, a Muslim lawyer from Florida requested by Moussaoui, to meet with the accused, suspected of being a 20th hijacker who prepared to participate in the September 11 attacks against the United States.
However, Moussaoui and the court-appointed team indicate the defendant has been communicating with lawyers through a Muslim professor, Sadiq Reza, who declined to comment on his role in the case, of New York Law School in Manhattan, reports news agencies.
Moussaoui - who has admitted to being a member of al-Qaeda, the group blamed for the attacks, but has steadfastly denied any involvement in the hijackings - initially asked for an indefinite delay of his trial.
Arrested in August 2001 on immigration violations, the 34-year-old Frenchman has since been charged with conspiracy to commit acts of terror that transcend international borders; conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy; conspiracy to destroy aircraft; conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction; conspiracy to murder U.S. employees; and conspiracy to destroy property.
He faces the death penalty on four of those charges.
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