After 19 months of testimony the Air India trial ended Friday with the defence wrapping up its case in B.C. Supreme Court.

Justice Ian Josephson will deliver a verdict on March 16, 2005.

For more than 200 days, the families and friends of Air India victims have gone to a $7-million high security courtroom in downtown Vancouver, built especially for the trial of millionaire Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, a sawmill worker from the B.C. Interior.

Both men are accused of carrying out the most deadly act of mass murder in Canadian history and one of the worst acts of aviation terrorism.

Crown prosecutors say Bagri and Malik were heavily involved in June 1985, when two bomb-laden suitcases left Vancouver airport with connections to Air India flights.

One of the bombs exploded at Tokyo's Narita airport killing two baggage handlers.

An hour later, a bomb exploded on board Air India Flight 182, which crashed off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 passengers and crew, most of them Canadians.

A third man, electrician Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted in the Narita bombing in 1991.

In 2003, he pled guilty to building the Air India bomb. He was called to give evidence against Malik and Bagri.

Prosecutors contend Reyat, Malik and Bagri were Sikh extremists bent on revenge against the Indian government for its attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

"I think it has been a necessary thing for us to be here to obtain closure. There's many questions that we needed answers to over the years and we feel that a lot of those questions have been answered during the course of this trial and now all we can do is hope for the best, that justice will prevail for us finally after 20 years," said Eddie Madon, the son of one of the victims.

The trial heard testimony from 115 witnesses.

The Crown's key witness, who cannot be identified by court order, testified that she and Malik were in love and that he revealed details of the bombing plot to her.

It was revealed that another Crown witness was paid nearly half a million dollars to give evidence.

Twice the trial was moved to a secret warehouse where parts of the bombed aircraft are stored.

This has been one of the longest and most expensive legal processes in Canadian history. One estimate says it cost nearly $130 million.

Rattan Mall, the editor of the Indo-Canadian Voice, said that once the trial was over Ottawa should order a public inquiry into the events of the past 20 years.

"We have to look beyond the trial. There should be a public inquiry, not just for the Indo-Canadian community, but for all Canadians, and for the justice system, so that you don't lose hundreds of innocent lives like this."