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Mr. Justice Ian Bruce Josephson of the B.C. Supreme Court found that Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik was not guilty of murder in the deaths of the 329 people who died in the bombing.

Judge Josephson told the courtroom Wednesday that he questioned the credibility of the Crown witness. He said there were too many inconsistencies in the key witnesses' story and too many motives for revenge against Mr. Malik.

Judge Josephson delivered his verdict to a stunned courtroom.

Some members of Mr. Malik's family were seen pumping their fists in the air when the verdict was read. Victims families sat in silence, with several people quietly weeping.

The judge is currently reading the verdict for the second man accused in the deaths of those aboard Air-India Flight 182 in 1985, mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri.

The judge gave his decision after 217 days of evidence and legal arguments. He withdrew last December to consider his decision, providing few clues as to which direction he would take.

The trial, by judge alone, heard chilling testimony alleging a conspiracy among a group of Canadians inspired by politics and religion to kill hundreds of people with homemade bombs. At times during the trial, the courtroom could barely contain the raw emotions of those who were touched by the deaths of 331 people. More than 35 lawyers were involved in the case since the two men were arrested on Oct. 27, 2000.

Even as of Tuesday, few legal experts were able to say decisively what the judge would decide.

"It will be very interesting to see what the judge decides," Wesley Wark, a law professor who teaches intelligence and security at the University of Toronto and has been following the case closely, told globeandmail.com.

"I think it could go either way."

Families of the victims of the bombing gathered in Vancouver both inside and outside the courtroom to hear the decision. As many as 70 members of victims' families were planning to be in the public gallery of the courtroom Wednesday. For many of them, it has been a long and difficult road.

In a lawsuit arising from the disaster, the airlines and airport security companies paid in U.S. funds most of the settlements. Many received compensation and some have said they have survived the emotional scars of the event, but others have said even with the trial finished, they will never be able to get past the horror of that day.

The case boiled down, at its simplest, to conflicting versions of private conversations between alleged religious terrorists Mr. Malik and Mr. Bagri and people they once considered their friends.

Judge Josephson also had to consider whether mistakes by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service — which violated the rights of the accused under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to have a fair trial — should have had an impact on the outcome.

The case against Mr. Malik and Mr. Bagri was circumstantial. They were not connected to the crime by physical evidence or firsthand testimony. They did not enter the witness box to give their own accounts of their activities.

Mr. Malik was accused of playing a role in planning the disaster and giving $3,005 to a friend to pick up the tickets for the flight.

Mr. Bagri, an angry Sikh preacher who advocated bloody revenge against the Indian government, was allegedly part of the group that took luggage with explosives to the airport.

With files from Robert Matas