THE HAGUE – The Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s spokesperson told NOW in an exclusive interview Friday that the Tribunal’s prosecution intends to pass down more indictments in crimes connected to the killing of former Premier Rafiq Hariri.
“There are three cases which are connected to the main case of the February 14, 2005 [Hariri assassination]… the prosecutor [Norman Farrell] has specified that he intends to submit indictments in those cases, but hasn’t yet,” Marten Youssef said on the sidelines of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s second day of deliberations.
The spokesperson revealed that the three cases in question are the October 1, 2004 assassination of former minister Marwan Hamadeh, the June 21 slaying of Lebanese Communist Party chief George Hawi, and the July 12 bid on former minister Elias al-Murr’s life.
The STL’s Office of the Prosecution has also been investigating other crimes that occurred during the UN Security Council-defined jurisdiction of the international tribunal.
“The prosecutor has also expressed that there are other cases that his team are investigating that occurred between October 2004 and December 12, 2005,” Youssef told NOW.
“No indictments [in these] have yet been submitted, at least not publicly that I would be aware of, [but] there is potential that there might be future indictments as the prosecutor has indicated that his investigation is ongoing.”
The STL’s spokesperson’s comments come a day after the tribunal launched its trial proceedings of the case of the four Hezbollah members—Mustafa Badreddine, 52, Salim Ayyash, 49, Hussein Anaissi, 39, and Assad Sabra, 36—originally indicted in 2011 for Hariri’s murder.
In an often technical presentation at the first two days of trial before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the prosecution began to detail how it believes the four accused participated in the Hariri assassination.
The prosecution’s case rests largely on telecommunications data, and the bulk of the proceedings focused on mobile phones allegedly used by the accused and as yet unnamed others.
A fifth suspect, Hassan Merhi, was mentioned frequently during the proceedings although his case, at present, is a separate legal matter. The prosecution has requested to join the two cases.
A further hearing before the trial chamber is expected in the next few weeks, judges said during a Monday hearing on the matter.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/stl-updates/530961-stl-spokesperson-tells-now-more-indictments-to-come
