Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man ever convicted in the Air India bombings of 1985, waits outside B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on September 10, 2010. An Air India bomber who received Canada's longest perjury sentence is appealing the conviction in a Vancouver court. Inderjit Singh Reyat was handed a nine-year prison sentence last year for lying repeatedly at the 2003 trial of two men charged with mass murder and conspiracy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
June 14, 2012 - 11:01 AM
VANCOUVER - An Air India bomber who received Canada's longest perjury sentence is appealing the conviction in a Vancouver court.
Inderjit Singh Reyat was handed a nine-year prison sentence last year for lying repeatedly at the 2003 trial of two men charged with mass murder and conspiracy.
Reyat was a Crown witness at the trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted in the biggest case of aviation terrorism before the 9-11 attacks in the U.S.
Reyat's testimony was part of a deal that saw him plead guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of 329 people aboard Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985.
He'd already served a 10-year sentence for the same-day deaths of two Tokyo baggage handlers who were killed when a bomb-laden suitcase meant for another Air India plane exploded prematurely.
Until last year, the longest perjury sentence ever handed down was six years in an Alberta case.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012