- Join the France 24 community here
- Log in
Latest update: 17/01/2011
- Lebanon - Rafiq Hariri - United Nations
Prosecutor submits indictments for murder of former PM Hariri
The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon says its prosecutor has issued indictments for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, a week after a dispute about the tribunal caused the government to collapse.
By News Wires (text)
AFP - The prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon submitted a confidential indictment Monday against suspects in the 2005 murder of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the tribunal said.
"The prosecutor of the tribunal has submitted an indictment and supporting materials to the pre-trial judge," the tribunal said in a statement in The Hague, where it is based for security reasons.
Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare presented the documents, widely believed to implicate Hezbollah, to the tribunal's registry at 4:35pm (1535 GMT), it said.
|
They "will now be reviewed by the pre-trial judge, Daniel Fransen", who has to confirm the charges before any arrest warrant or summons to appear can be issued.
The STL was created at Lebanon's request by a 2007 UN Security Council resolution to find and try the killers of Hariri, assassinated in a massive car bombing on the Beirut seafront on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 other people.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Sunday the group would "defend" itself against likely charges by the tribunal, which it said was a tool of the United States and Israel.
The Shiite militant group, which enjoys the backing of Iran and Syria, withdrew from the Lebanese cabinet last Wednesday in protest against the ongoing UN-backed investigation, prompting the collapse of the unity government led by Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the murdered premier.
Talks on naming a new premier were postponed earlier on Monday.
The pre-trial judge should need six to 10 weeks to confirm the charges, tribunal registrar Herman von Hebel told journalists in The Hague in December.
He could also decide to reject the indictment in whole or in part, or ask the prosecutor for additional information.
A trial could follow "our to six months" after the confirmation of the charges, according to Von Hebel.
The STL's rules allows for a trial to be held "in absentia", meaning without the accused being present, if arrests are impossible.
Hezbollah, "Party of God" in Arabic, has warned the group will "cut off the hand" of anyone who tries to arrest any of its members for the Hariri killing, raising fears of renewed Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence, 20 years after the end of a 15-year civil war.
The tribunal opened its doors in The Hague in 2009, four years after Hariri's murder triggered a political crisis that caused the withdrawal of Syrian troops after a 29-year presence in Lebanon.
Damascus has consistently denied involvement in the killing.
Related Content
Breaking news from the MIDDLE EAST
‘Darth Vader’ demands free land from Ukrainian government
Browse all editions
FRANCE 24 PARTNERS
Comments (1)
The Changing Face of the Middle East
There is fear that the findings of the investigation of Rafic Hariri's assassinators will cause renewed bloodshed in the Middle East. I doubt it very much but I'm not a fortune teller. The biggest player in the Middle East, the USA, has lost a great deal of power and credibility and no one is paying much attention to it anymore.
President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have both been publicly humiliated by Prime Minister Netanyahu who steadfastly refused to stop building settlements in the occupied territories even after they offered him money and weapons.
The USA’s reaction or non-reaction to this humiliation demonstrated to the Middle East that USA has no clothes. Saudi Arabia, America's puppet, was unable to make peace between Prime Minister Hariri and Hezbollah bringing down the American backed Lebanese government.
I think that Turkey (clean hands) will take the place of Saudi Arabia, a new Prime Minister will be appointed and life will go on. As for America, I think even the cowardly EU will discover the truth that American power in the Middle East is non-existent. This can only be good for Lebanon in the long run as America’s pandering to Israel’s every whim has introduced terrorism and created many groups fed up of the USA’s support for authoritarian regimes, lack of freedom of speech and lack of human rights.
Post new comment