BEIRUT - The Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri announced Friday that it has decided to hold its trial of Hassan Habib Merhi in absentia.
The Tribunal announced in a statement that its Trial Chamber decided on the absentia trial after it “concluded that Mr. Merhi has absconded or otherwise cannot be found and all reasonable steps have been taken to secure his appearance before the STL.”
In October, the STL announced that it had indicted Merhi for the assassination of Hariri, raising the number of people charged for the bombing to five.
In June 2011 the UN-backed court charged 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 January 16, 2014 start date for the blockbuster trial.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/526698-stl-to-hold-merhi-trial-in-absentia
