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Lawyer
for Fine Air calls investigation in Peru "absurd"
The Associated Press LIMA, Peru (October 23, 1997) -- A lawyer for two owners of a U.S. airline who have been declared fugitives by a Peruvian judge says his clients have broken no law and are unlikely to attend future hearings in Peru. Judge Marco Antonio Lizarraga on Monday declared Barry and Frank Fine, owners of the Miami-based Fine Air, fugitives after they failed to show up for a hearing on their airline's role in a shipment of Argentine arms to Ecuador in early 1995. At the time of the shipment, Ecuador and Peru were fighting a brief border war that left at least 78 dead. While the plane never touched down in Peru, the Fines are charged with "damaging the Peruvian state" and face a minimum of 20 years in prison if convicted. Elias Mendoza, the brothers' lawyer, said they did know that one of their planes, which had been rented to a third party, was being used to ferry the arms to Ecuador. "It is absurd to hold the company responsible," he said Wednesday. "My clients have broken no Peruvian law, no U.S. law and no international aviation law. They have been convicted of nothing. The judge's ruling just means they didn't attend the hearing," said Mendoza. A judge in 1995 ordered the investigation into Fine Air closed, saying there was no evidence suggesting the company should be held responsible for the arms shipment. But in 1996 another judge ordered the case reopened. A court spokesman said by telephone Tuesday that the Fines' lawyers did not attend the hearing, but Mendoza insisted a lawyer had been present. Lizarraga's assistant on Wednesday confirmed for an Associated Press reporter who went to the courthouse that a lawyer for the Fines had been at the hearing. Despite the lawyer's presence, Lizarraga declared the Fines fugitives because they had failed to show up for the proceedings, the assistant said. In earlier comments to reporters, Lizarraga had mistakenly identified Frank Fine as Larry Fine. |