Differences Lead to STL Judge Resignation amid Alleged Indictment of 5th Hizbullah Member
The resignation of the presiding judge of the international tribunal's trial chamber came over his objection to several measures that contradict the court's rules of procedure, As Safir daily reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper also claimed that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is prosecuting ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins, had issued an indictment against a fifth Hizbullah member but the case was closed.
The STL announced on Tuesday that Judge Robert Roth, presiding judge of the trial chamber, has resigned.
“It is unfortunate that he will not be presiding over the trial of the accused, currently scheduled to start in January 2014,” the statement said.
But As Safir said Roth resigned after he objected to certain measures that are inconsistent with the tribunal's rules of procedure and evidence in addition to some interferences in the appeal made by the defense teams of the accused.
The daily said that the court and Hizbullah liaison officer Wafiq Safa agreed to “close the file” of an indictment against a fifth Hizbullah member after two powerful car bombs rocked the party's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.
The court has accused four Hizbullah members, Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra of being involved in the February 2005 suicide car bomb attack in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others, including the suicide bomber.
They will go on trial in absentia over the failure of the Lebanese authorities to arrest them.
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