By Kareem Shaheen
BEIRUT: Defense lawyers at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were fined this week for making “frivolous” appeals to the court’s judges, in the latest setback for efforts to push back the start of the Hariri assassination trial.
“We have previously issued a warning that ‘we will not tolerate the filing of appeals that lack any serious legal or factual basis,’” the court’s appeals chamber said in a ruling published on the STL website. “This is the case here.”
The latest decision raises doubts over the credibility of defense arguments that they need more time to prepare for trial, slated to begin in January of the coming year.
Defense lawyers have repeatedly argued in recent weeks that Lebanon systematically failed to assist their investigations. At a pretrial hearing Tuesday, they complained that the large volume of evidence in the case meant that it would be premature to begin proceedings so soon.
The trial of the Hariri case is scheduled to begin nearly nine years after Hariri was assassinated and almost two years after the defense lawyers were sworn in. It was originally scheduled for March 2013.
The chamber’s decision referred to an appeal by defense lawyers for Mustafa Badreddine and Hussein Oneissi, two Hezbollah members accused of complicity in Hariri’s killing. The lawyers asked the tribunal’s president to rescind an order appointing Judge Janet Nosworthy of Jamaica to the trial chamber after its president resigned in September.
A delay in appointing a new trial judge would likely have impeded preparations for the start of trial.
In addition to refusing to consider the appeal, the judges imposed a fine on the defense lawyers because their appeal was “frivolous,” essentially arguing that it was a waste of the court’s time.
The court declined to elaborate on the amount of the fine, saying that it was confidential.
The STL is tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the Valentine’s Day bombing in 2005 that claimed the life of former premier Rafik Hariri and 21 others. It has indicted five Hezbollah members in connection with the case. The party refuses to hand them over.
In addition to complaints over cooperation, lawyers argued in Tuesday’s hearing that they faced financial constraints that limited the number of experts they could call as witnesses.
The prosecution is expected to call forensic and communications experts to help it argue a complex case largely based on call data records. – additional reporting by Niamh Fleming-Farrell
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31/10/2013
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