BEIRUT – The Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the 2005 murder of former Premier Rafiq Hariri on Tuesday will hold a preliminary hearing on joining the indictment against Hezbollah member Hassan Habib Merhi to the trial of four other suspects in the assassination set to begin Thursday.
“The Trial Chamber will hold a hearing on Tuesday 14 January 2014 to hear preliminary submissions from the Prosecution and counsel for Hassan Habib Merhi on the possible joinder of the case against Mr. Merhi with the Ayyash et al. case,” a statement issued by the Tribunal said Monday.
“The hearing which will commence at 11:30 [CET time] will be held in public, but the judges may decide to go into closed session if confidential matters need to be discussed.”
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s trial of the four Hezbollah suspects originally indicted for the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri will begin on January 16.
In June 2012 the UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members—Mustafa Badreddine, 52, Salim Ayyash, 49, Hussein Anaissi, 39, and Assad Sabra, 36—for Hariri’s February 14, 2005 murder.
Two years later, the tribunal filed a new indictment in the case, charging Hezbollah supporter Merhi with conspiracy and serving as an accomplice to the assassination.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/special-tribunal-for-lebanon/530062-stl-to-hold-preliminary-hearing-on-adding-merhi-indictment-to-trial
