![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/60000/images/_60615_court.jpg)
![image: [ Eleven people on the ground and 259 on the Pan Am flight were killed ]](/olmedia/60000/images/_60615_LOCKERBIE.JPG)
The United States and Britain argue that the suspects should be tried in a Scottish or US court, but Libya insists they would not receive a fair trial in either country.
Libya asked the court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, to lift UN Security Council sanctions aimed at forcing the suspects' extradition.
The ruling is likely to increase pressure on Britain and the US to agree to stage the trial in a neutral country, a compromise which Libya says it will accept.
The US Government had argued that the World Court has no power to overturn a Security Council decision and should pull out of the case.
The United States and Britain are still fighting for a trial nine years after a suitcase bomb killed 270 people in the air and on the ground in Lockerbie.
The ruling was a boost for some relatives of the victims of Flight 103. But the decision did not settle the judicial deadlock and a trial could still be years away.
The 15 justices announced their authority to wade into the affair in a ruling on Britain's case before the court. They were still ruling on Friday on a separate but similar case brought by the United States.
The United States and Britain both want to try the men on their soil. Libya claims a 1971 civil aviation convention gives it the right to carry out any trial.
Authorities in Tripoli insist the men, Abdel Baset Ali Mohammed el-Megrahi and Al Amine Khalifa Fhimah, are innocent.
The Libyan ambassador to the Netherlands called the ruling a victory for small countries.
Lockerbie trial 'fair in Scotland' - UN
(22 Dec 97 | World)
Lockerbie relatives demand trial
(22 Dec 97 | UK)
UN legal team visiting Lockerbie
(04 Dec 97 | World)
Lockerbie father "optimistic" about trial
(04 Nov 97 | World)
International Court of Justice
Lockerbie Accident Report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch
The FBI's 10 Most Wanted
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Yeltsin sacks three ministers
Eleven hit euro targets
(From Business)
Israel apologises to Swiss over spying
Russia to rebury Tsar Nicholas
Political leaders welcome euro figures
Britain sets up hooligan hotline for football World Cup
President Yeltsin supports middle class
Wanted: A politician to challenge Helmut Kohl
Spanish police chief's $14m costs him 28 years
New Lithuanian President says joining Nato a priority
(From Despatches)
Thousands protest against Turkish ban on Islamist headscarves and beards
Calling time on Dutch happy hour
Liberator of Berlin dies
Olive branch from Cypriot President sworn in today
Sweden brings back horse patrols
Spaniards protest against EU olive oil reforms
Austrian bishops label cardinal a paedophile
Serbia denies it's holding Srebrenica survivors
Writer fined for Holocaust writings