STL Registrar Confirms Lebanon has to Pay its Share by End of October
Special Tribunal for Lebanon Registrar Herman Von Hebel expected from Lebanon to pay its share of the tribunal funding by the end of October, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.
“Lebanon has 30 days to pay its share,” Von Hebel said during a press conference in New York.
Lebanon has to pay its $33 million dues which are nearly half of the STL’s annual $65 million.
Asked about Hizbullah’s position over the STL, who described it as an American-Israeli product, he said: “If it was an American-Israeli product, why would there be more than 25 countries from the five continents funding the tribunal? Shouldn’t the U.S. and Israel only fund it?”
The STL had issued arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members, accusing them of being involved in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 murder.
The party has announced that it will not cooperate with the tribunal, describing it as an American-Israeli product aimed at destroying it.
Von Hebel expected Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to issue an indictment by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012 in the cases of ex-telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, former-defense Minister Elias Murr and ex-Community Party leader George Hawi.
Hamadeh was wounded in 2004 and Murr in 2005 in bomb attacks, while Hawi was killed in 2005 by a bomb placed underneath the passenger seat of his car.
He noted that renewing the term of the STL, which ends in March-2012, “concerns only United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.”
Meanwhile, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed the importance of preserving the stable security situation, and not to put the STL above the national interest and internal stability.
Nasrallah’s visitors told al-Liwaa newspaper published on Thursday that he is insisting on his position over the STL, refusing to fund it.
He reiterated his support to Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
A dispute recently rose in Lebanon on whether the March 8-dominant government would commit to funding the tribunal.
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