Hariri trial opens in The Hague
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 02, 2009 00:00
THE HAGUE - A landmark international tribunal to try the suspected killers of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri got under way yesterday with pledges to provide justice to the victims of terrorism. 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. Three others, civilians suspected of withholding information and misleading the ongoing probe, were freed on bail by Lebanon on Wednesday. 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 emphasized 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 U.N. Security Council resolution and will apply Lebanese law. It has a renewable, three-year mandate.
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. Three others, civilians suspected of withholding information and misleading the ongoing probe, were freed on bail by Lebanon on Wednesday. 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 emphasized 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 U.N. Security Council resolution and will apply Lebanese law. It has a renewable, three-year mandate.