STL's 2nd Day of Testimonies Focus on Truck Seen in CCTV Footage near Hariri Blast Site
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon continued on Thursday hearing the testimonies of various witnesses linked to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Witness Robyn Fraser, who had worked for the STL Office of Prosecution between August 2009 and August 2011, continued the testimony she had started on Wednesday.
Wednesday's proceedings tackled the cases of two witnesses who were directly affected by the February 2005 blast, while Fraser's testimony focused on the CCTV camera footage taken in the areas surrounding the blast scene.
Senior Trial Counsel Alexander Milne carried out the cross-examination on behalf of the Office of the Prosecution, while Defense co-counsel for suspect Mustafa Badreddine Iain Edwards carried out the cross-examination on behalf of the Defense team.
The Prosecution focused its questions on the CCTV footage taken by a camera at the HSBC Bank near the Hariri blast site.
Attempts were made to determine the route of the lorry, suspected of carrying the explosives used in the attack, as it made its way out of the Suleiman Franjieh tunnel, making its way in front of the Phoenicia Hotel and later HSBC Bank before the explosion took place.
The Prosecution showed various stills taken by the camera at the bank, including some taken before and after the blast.
Fraser explained that the camera footage is not of high quality and the investigation was unable to make any clear closeups of any individuals or vehicles at the scene.
The Defense made an observation that given the proceedings of the testimonies, it has not yet been established that the white lorry seen in the footage is the white Mitsubishi that is suspected of carrying the explosives used in Hariri's assassination.
In addition, Fraser said that the lorry preceded Hariri's convoy by about a minute and that it was moving at a pace ten times slower than other vehicles.
Following the Prosecution's cross-examination, the Defense focused its questioning of the witness on whether the lorry seen in the various CCTV footage was one and the same.
Edwards pointed out that the quality of the footage made it impossible to make out the license plate number of the truck.
The Defense said that given the inability to find any unique characteristics of the lorry and the inability to view the front of the vehicle, it would not be unlikely that the witness may have been looking at two different lorries.
He also stated that an expert would be needed to determine whether the lorry in the footage were all of the same vehicle, given that there were no distinguishing features to the vehicle.
Fraser said that she seeing as she was not an expert in such matters, she was unable to verify the make and model of the lorry.
The Defense then concluded the cross-examination.
Three witnesses will make their testimonies on Friday and more testimonies will be made on Monday.
Thursday's session was adjourned to 11 am Beirut time on Friday.
Wednesday's hearing tackled the CCTV footage taken by cameras at the Suleiman Franjieh tunnel and one camera at the corner of the Phoenicia Hotel.
Four Hizbullah suspects – Mustafa Badreddine, Hassan Oneissi, Salim Ayyash and Assad Sabra - have been indicted in Hariri's murder in what prosecutors say was a suicide truck bombing that killed him and 21 others on the Beirut seafront.
The suspects are being tried in absentia because they haven't been arrested.
The fifth to be indicted was Hassan Habib Merhi, who was indicted later than the other four suspects and is not officially a suspect in the trial that started Thursday but several accusations have been made against him.
His lawyers are attending the trial in observer status.
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