The Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri on Monday announced that it was authorizing public announcements as part of its efforts to serve its recent indictment against Hassan Merhi.
“The Lebanese authorities have so far been unable to locate Mr. Merhi. I have therefore ordered the service of the indictment in alternative modes, which include public announcements,” a statement issued by the STL President Judge Sir David Baragwanath said.
The statement added that if the new procedures fail to the apprehension of Merhi, then the Tribunal’s Trial Chamber would rule on whether to try the suspect in absentia for his alleged role in the killing of Rafiq Hariri.
The STL’s indictment—which was filed in on June 5, 2013 but not made public until October 10—charged Merhi with one count of “conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act” and four other counts of being an accomplice to the killing.
The STL said in a statement that Merhi coordinated with the other alleged conspirators to prepare the false claim of responsibility issued following Hariri’s murder and was also involved in efforts to coordinate the attack.
According to the STL, Merhi was born on December 12, 1965 and was a resident of the Bourj al-Barajneh area in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburbs.
Following the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others, Al-Jazeera ran a tape on behalf of a fictional Islamist terror group claiming responsibility for the attack.
In 2011 the UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members—Mustafa Badreddine, 52, Salim Ayyash, 49, Hussein Anaissi, 39, and Assad Sabra, 36—for Hariri’s murder.
The tribunal has set a provisional January, 2014 start date for the blockbuster trial.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/516600-stl-authorizes-public-announcements-to-serve-new-indictment
