AIR INDIA: Inderjit Singh Reyat asking Supreme Court to overturn perjury conviction

Inderjit Singh Reyat waits outside B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Sept. 10, 2010. Reyat is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a perjury conviction for his testimony at the Air India bombing trial. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Inderjit Singh Reyat is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a perjury conviction for his testimony at the Air India bombing trial, further prolonging a saga that began with the deaths of 329 people in the skies over the Atlantic Ocean nearly three decades ago.

Reyat, who himself pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role in the bombing, was convicted of perjury in September 2010 and later sentenced to nine years in prison – believed to be the longest perjury sentence in Canadian history.

He was accused of lying 19 times during the 2003 trial of Ri-pudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted of mass murder and conspiracy in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985.

Reyat fought his perjury conviction at the B.C. Court of Appeal, but that case was rejected in July.

He is now asking the country’s top court to hear the case.

Tags: Air India bombing, Inderjit Singh Reyat