STL: Trial Chamber Awaits Further Info from Lebanon before Starting in Absentia Trials
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Trial Chamber has decided Wednesday to await a response from the Lebanese authorities on their efforts to arrest the accused before deciding whether to begin proceedings in absentia, it announced in a statement.
“The Trial Chamber has requested STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to file a progress report by 8 December on the response of the Lebanese authorities,” it added.
“The judges of the Trial Chamber are responsible for deciding whether to try the accused in their absence, given that none of the four indicted men has yet been arrested,” it explained.
During a hearing held on November 11, the Prosecution argued that the Lebanese authorities should do more to locate and arrest the accused before the tribunal could try them in absentia, it said.
The Prosecution sent 10 requests for assistance to Lebanese Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza asking him to take additional steps, continued the statement.
The tribunal's Defense Office asked the Trial Chamber to consider withdrawing the arrest warrants and notifying the accused of the possibility of appearing at trial by videoconference.
The Trial Chamber decided that the four accused should be formally notified of their rights to attend the trial.
“When the Trial Chamber has the responses from the Lebanese authorities it will then decide whether it should invite Lebanese officials to provide additional information,” it concluded.
Four Hizbullah members were accused of being involved in the February 2005 assassination that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The court on August 17 unsealed the indictment against the four suspects, Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra, and has said Lebanon must try harder to apprehend them.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he doubted the four indictees will ever be found and has branded the tribunal a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy aimed at bringing down the party.
He also ruled out that Hizbullah will support the funding of the STL, stating that if the cabinet failed to reach consensus on the matter, then it should be submitted to vote at the parliament.
Ayyash has been named in the indictment as coordinator of the assassination team.
Ayyash and Badreddine face five charges including that of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide, while Oneissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.
Source: Agence France Presse
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