BEIRUT: The lawyers of a Hezbollah commander accused of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri criticized the Lebanese government Wednesday for its failure to cooperate as they prepare for trial in January.
At a hearing, the pretrial judge at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Daniel Fransen, said he had sent a letter to the president of the Lebanese Court of Cassation asking for cooperation after defense counsel repeatedly expressed frustration over Lebanon’s collaboration with the court.
Lawyers for Mustafa Badreddine said there was an “absence of cooperation from the Lebanese authorities.” Badreddine, along with three other Hezbollah members, will be tried in absentia early next year in The Hague.
Lawyers for Hussein Oneissi, another one of the accused, said that most of the Hariri case file compiled by the Lebanese authorities, which comprises the “core” of the prosecution’s case, had yet to be translated from Arabic.
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12/09/2013
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