Al Fayed Demands Jury At Inquest For Diana and Dodi
"The ordinary people of this country would be eminently capable of understanding all the evidence and making up their own minds," he added, after applying to the High Court for a judicial review of the decision.
Coroner Elizabeth Butler-Sloss announced earlier this month that the inquest into Diana and Fayed's deaths, expected to start no later than May, would be heard without a jury.
That decision came after the publication in December of an official 800-page report by former London police chief Lord John Stevens, which said the deaths were a "tragic accident" and not a murder plot.
Al Fayed, the boss of famous London emporium Harrods, rejects that conclusion as a whitewash -- and said the inquest was another "establishment" attempt at a cover-up.
"I am certain that they were murdered," he continued, "It is now firmly established that princess Diana herself feared for her safety and pointed the finger directly at senior members of the royal family," he said.
"How can a coroner for the royal household, appointed by the queen and apparently in her employ, instil any confidence in me and the public generally that she will fearlessly and independently investigate all the facts, and reach decisions which are impartial?"
He added: "If the public is to have confidence in the verdicts that will eventually be reached, it is essential that the public should be fully involved."
"Unless there is a jury, which is allowed to hear all the evidence themselves, I shall not accept the verdicts, and I do not think any right-thinking person in this country, or abroad, will do so either."