Can Moussaoui Get a Fair Trial in America?

This  partial transcript of War on Terror: The Hunt for the Killers from December 14, 2001, was provided by the Federal Document Clearing House. Click here to order the complete transcript.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: Moussaoui was present at an Al Qaeda based terrorist training camp in Afghanistan three years ago. He attended flight school and took commercial flight training courses. He purchased flight deck videos from an Ohio flight store, just as Mohammed Atta and the other hijackers had done beforehand. He purchased knives and protective equipment. He looked into global positioning system technology. And like Atta, he also researched crop-dusting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JON SCOTT, HOST: FBI director Robert Mueller laying out the government's case against French national Zacarias Moussaoui, who many believe was supposed to be the 20th suicide hijacker on 911.

The only living suspect formally linked to the terror attacks was indicted in New York this week. He'll be moved to Virginia to stand trial.

Earlier, I spoke to his family attorney in Paris, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, and asked her why she claims Moussaoui won't get a fair trial in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISABELLE COUTANT-PEYRE, MOUSSAOUI'S FRENCH ATTORNEY: Because of the importance of the events of the 11 of September, if he is first person prosecuted, he will support all of the weight of what happens 11 of September...

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: He was in jail...

COUTANT-PEYRE: France -- excuse me! Excuse me! I finish! He was in jail during 11 of September, but of course, you know that public opinion will look at him as the first man responsible for 11 of September. There is nobody else. In France, the sentence of death are finished since 20 years, and French government and French population is fighting against (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

SCOTT: Yeah, but this isn't France. This is the United States of America. We have a federal death penalty. Most of our states have the death penalty. And this man is accused of crimes that, under our laws, are eligible for the death penalty. So if we want to invoke that penalty, under our laws, we are allowed.

COUTANT-PEYRE: I consider that his indictment the 12th of December is a first official (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Before this date, he was illegally in jail because there was no official proceeding against him. You cannot...

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: He was arrested on immigration charges. He was arrested in immigration charges.

COUTANT-PEYRE: Yes. It is the first time that one people in United States is in jail during four months for a question of visa, I suppose.

SCOTT: Well, he also...

COUTANT-PEYRE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for French, OK?

SCOTT: His jailers also reported that he stood up and cheered when he saw the television reports of the planes smashing into the World Trade Center. You don't think that, among other things, provides evidence of his guilt?

COUTANT-PEYRE: I don't know. He cannot be physically involved for the 11 of September. I don't know if he was involved in an organization that had something to do with 11 of September. But he is prosecuted, can be sentenced and probably will be sentenced to death, to a death sentence, just to have know maybe something about the question of New York and Washington.

SCOTT: I have to ask you about another question. Magdalena Kopp, a woman you represented, was charged with terrorism. You ended up representing and now will be married to her ex-husband, Carlos, "The Jackal." What is this affinity you have for terrorists?

COUTANT-PEYRE: No, the world of terrorist is not my kind of world. I am interested by people who are acting politically, and I don't consider that revolutionary peoples must be called terrorists. In the other side, you have courageous people, fighting people, giving their life for ideas and idealistic opinion for (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

SCOTT: So in your book, Zacarias Moussaoui is just some courageous guy?

COUTANT-PEYRE: I don't know. Mr. Moussaoui, from my opinion, is not involved from nothing in the question of 11 of September. He is used like (UNINTELLIGIBLE) necessary for the public opinion, especially in America.

SCOTT: Well, he was taking money from the same people who were sending money to Mohammed Atta. He was taking flight lessons. His computer was full of information about crop-dusting and application of chemicals. It sounds like our government has a pretty good case.

COUTANT-PEYRE: Yes, but he was not in the planes that were on the...

SCOTT: Because he was in jail.

COUTANT-PEYRE: Yes, but he cannot be condemned for the question of the… (UNINTELLIGIBLE) He cannot be. He was not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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