Region | Lebanon
Lebanon on the edge as Hariri tribunal opens
Focus in Lebanon assassination probe shifts as international tribunal on the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister opens in Netherlands.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:01 March 1, 2009
- Officials at the opening ceremony of the Hariri tribunal in Leidschendam, the Netherlands, on Sunday.On right is Daniel Bellemare, chief prosecutor of the tribunal. The court has an initial, renewable mandate of three years. The identities of its 11 judges, four of them Lebanese, are being kept secret.
- Image Credit: EPA
Beirut: After four years of investigation the focus in one of the Mideast's most dramatic political assassinations is shifting to prosecution with the convening on Sunday of an international tribunal on the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Despite the start of proceedings in the Netherlands, it is still not known who will be accused in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people on a seaside street in Beirut on February 14, 2005.
Most likely the first defendants before the court will be four pro-Syria generals who led Lebanon's police, intelligence service and an elite army unit at the time of the assassination.
They are the only people in custody, though they have not been formally charged.
The chief prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Daniel Bellemare, said the new tribunal constituted the world's first anti-terrorist court.
Bellemare was speaking at a special ceremony to inaugurate the tribunal, set up four years after Hariri's assassination in Beirut in 2005.
"By the very nature of its mandate, the SPL is the first international anti-terrorist tribunal," he told reporters. He said the court was set up not to seek revenge, but "a justice that ensures everybody is treated with dignity and respect."
Under the terms of the tribunal, Bellemare has 60 days to apply to the Lebanese authorities to have four generals held over the killing to be brought to The Hague to face trial. The four include the former head of the presidential guard.
The Canadian prosecutor gave no indication of a date when the tribunal would hold its first trial. "Indictments will be filed when I am satisfied I have enough evidence," he said. He emphasised the tribunal's independence, asserting that its workings "must and will be above politics."
The tribunal, located in the suburb of Leidschendam, was created by a 2007 UN Security Council resolution and will apply Lebanese law. It has an initial, renewable, three-year mandate. The identities of its 11 judges, four of them Lebanese, are being kept secret.
The opening ceremony, attended by UN officials and diplomats, was held at a former gymnasium at the headquarters of the Dutch intelligence service, where the court will sit. The tribunal's registrar, Robin Vincent, told the opening ceremony: "We're not here for the perpatrators of crimes, but for the victims of crimes."
Lebanon's ambassador to the Netherlands, Zeidan Al Saghir, said the court was a step towards the Lebanese people's belief "that they can reconstruct and rebuild what has been destroyed by war".
"What Lebanon is asking you is to serve justice. Justice is our request," he said. The United States welcomed the opening of the Special Tribunal, saying it was "a clear signal that Lebanon's sovereignty is non-negotiatable."
"We hope it will help deter further violence and end a sad era of impunity. Too many Lebanese families have never seen justice for the murder of their loved ones," said State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood.
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