Marten Youssef Says Prosecutor Can Refer Indictment to Pre-Trial Judge Discreetly
Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef stressed on Thursday that Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare could refer a new indictment secretly to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen without revealing its context.
“The court’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence give the prosecutor two ways to refer an indictment to the pre-trial judge either discreetly, or he can refer it without revealing its context (to the public),” Youssef told An Nahar newspaper.
The STL Judges began a two-day meeting on Wednesday to discuss amendments to the court’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence, according to a statement issued by the court.
Youssef said that “it’s up to the prosecutor to decide the timing of the indictment release as the pre-trial judge can reject it or reject parts of it.”
Asked about a fifth suspect linked to the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri, he said: “The prosecutor decides the procedures if there was a new indictment that includes new suspects.”
The STL official noted that it’s difficult to confirm if the release of a new indictment would delay the trials in absentia.
Media reports said that Youssef expected the trials in absentia to kick off at the end of 2012, noting that the date will be set in April by Fransen.
Earlier this month, the court said that eight lawyers have been selected to represent four Hizbullah members due to be tried in absentia for the Feb. 2005 assassination of Hariri.
Each of the four defendants, who remain at large, will have a counsel and co-counsel who "are fully independent and can choose any strategy they see best fit to defend the rights of the accused,” it said.
The Hague-based tribunal indicted Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra and sent arrest warrants for them to Lebanese authorities in June last year.
But the authorities in Lebanon have so far failed to arrest them.
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