Hizbullah Urges Non-Cooperation with STL, Says Bellemare’s Requests Contradict with Protocol
Loyalty to the Resistance bloc leader MP Mohammed Raad urged Lebanese leaders on Friday not to cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s requests contradict with the cooperation protocol signed between Lebanon and the tribunal.
During a press conference he held at the parliament building, the Hizbullah lawmaker said Bellemare’s requests from four caretaker ministers for information and documents came seven years after ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination and amid turmoil in the Arab world.
“This reinforces the suspicion of the politicization of the STL,” he said.
The requests of the tribunal prosecutor contradict with the cooperation protocol signed between Lebanon and the international tribunal and violate Lebanese sovereignty, the MP told reporters.
“Providing such information to Bellemare is in violation of the people’s privacy protected by Lebanese laws,” he said.
He called on supporters not to respond to Bellemare’s requests and for “freezing the memorandums of understanding between the court’s agencies and Lebanon pending the formation of a new government that would take the appropriate national decision.”
Raad ridiculed Bellemare for asking for the fingerprints of all the Lebanese, including the president, current and former officials, sheikhs, nuns and priests.
“Who can give us guarantees that the data requested by Bellemare would not be delivered to Israeli intelligence services?” Raad asked.
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