Harb: Lawsuit Has Been Filed against Syrian Officers Linked to Tueni's Assassination
Opposition MP Butros Harb revealed on Tuesday that the case of the assassination of MP Gebran Tueni may be referred to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon should the Lebanese judiciary fail to address the matter.
He added: “A lawsuit has been filed against Syrian officers linked to the lawmaker's assassination.”
He made the announcement during a press conference in light of a recent Al-Arabiya television report that aired documents demonstrating the alleged involvement of Syrian officers and Hizbullah intelligence in the December 12, 2005, assassination of journalist, MP, and chairman of the board of directors of An Nahar newspaper Gebran Tueni.
As the attorney tackling the case, Harb said during the press conference: “We want to continue the investigation in the matter and stress that the case of Tueni and the rest of the martyrs will remain alive.”
“We want to send a clear message to the criminals that we reject political assassinations and anyone who tries to assassinate Lebanon will be confronted,” declared the MP.
“Despite the political pressure being exerted, we are determined to place our faith in the Lebanese judiciary to tackle Tueni's murder,” he added.
“We will turn to the STL and request that this case be added to the others it is looking into,” revealed Harb.
“Should the international tribunal agree to our request, then we will ask the Lebanese judiciary to cease its investigations in the case and turn it over to the STL,” he said.
“The STL's jurisdiction and means go beyond the agreements signed between Lebanon and Syria, and at that point, Syria cannot refuse a request to interrogate one of its officers,” he stated.
Furthermore, he stressed: “We did not turn to the Lebanese government to address this case because we are aware of its poor history in dealing with such matters.”
The opposition MP said that the government's past practices in similar situations have portrayed it as a partner in obstructing justice.
Addressing Hizbullah and its alleged involvement in Tueni's assassination, Harb said: “We hope the party would act in a manner that would erase all suspicions against it.”
“We hope our suspicions over this document do not become realized and so far no suspect in Tueni's assassination has faced the judiciary,” he remarked.
“We will strive to uncover all the crimes against the Lebanese people through the judiciary. Should we fail then we will leave justice to God,” he stressed.
On Saturday, Al-Arabiya obtained an alleged Syrian document saying: “With the help of members of the intelligence department of Lebanon's Hizbullah, Mission 213, which was assigned to them on December 10, has been successfully accomplished with excellent results.”
The document, dated December 12, 2005, was sent by head of the operations department in the Syrian intelligence, Hasan Abdul Rahman, to then chief of national security department Assef Shawkat, according to Al-Arabiya.
“In concurrence with Assef Shawkat's letter on accomplishing the mission and on the same day the letter was sent to the Syrian presidential palace, a booby-trapped car was awaiting Lebanese lawmaker Gebran Tueni to end his life while on his way to work, in an assassination operation described as mysterious back then,” Al-Arabiya added.
Hizbullah on Monday denied links to Tueni's assassination, with Minister Mohammed Fneish saying: “Al-Arabiya's document on Hizbullah is fake and not everything published is a real document and you can tell that from the content.”
The party later issued a statement denying the report and accusing the March 14 camp of taking advantage of the “baseless accusations fabricated by the Saudi network Al-Arabiya and attributed to Syrian opposition activists, including those related to the assassination of MP Gebran Tueni.”
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