Naharnet

Report: Fifth Suspect in Hariri Murder Indictment is a Politician

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has named a fifth civilian suspect in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, informed diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

The sources told al-Liwaa daily that the suspect is a politician and not a party militant or a member of a secret security service.

Bellemare will name the new suspect in an amended version of the indictment that was issued last year accusing four Hizbullah members of involvement in Hariri’s murder, an international judicial source said.

Bellemare thanked the Lebanese in an open letter released Monday, just over a week before he is to resign from his position. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon hasn’t yet named a new prosecutor.

Al-Liwaa’s report came after al-Akhbar daily quoted sources close to the prosecutor’s office as saying last Friday that Bellemare referred a new indictment to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen in the assassination attempts of MP Marwan Hamadeh, ex-Defense Minister Elias Murr, and the murder of former Communist party leader George Hawi.

The three attacks have been linked to Hariri’s assassination.


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