Pakistani-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Rana under investigation for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, has stuck to his 'not guilty' plea to terror charges and is headed for trial, will appear before a US court in Chicago on May 11 for a status hearing in the case.
Patrick Blegen, lawyer for the 48 year-old businessman, told PTI that "during the status hearing, the judge is going to rule on some pre-trial motions". Blegen reiterated that there will not be any change in Rana's not guilty plea, which he had entered in the US district court in January. He however did not comment on when he expects the trial in the case to start. Rana's May 11 status hearing is scheduled before US Judge Harry Leinenweber. Days after co-accused Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley had pleaded guilty in March to plotting the Mumbai terror attacks, Blegen had said his client would not be changing his not guilty plea and go ahead for a trial, which he hoped would start "sooner rather than later".
Blegen had said he feels he still has a "strong case". Rana's trial process is expected to start only after September, till when federal prosecutors would work on what evidence gathered against him can be used at trial. Chicago's top federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who is personally handling the case, had told the court he hopes to declassify evidence gathered in the terror investigation in the next few months. Blegen and prosecutors agreed on a six-month schedule - April 5, June 1, July 1, August 2, September 13 - for carrying out provisions of the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA),
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