Open Hearing Set for Oct. 1 to Appeal Decision on Jurisdiction and Legality of STL
The Appeals Chamber has scheduled an open hearing on 1 October at 9:15 a.m. to hear the appeal against the decision on the jurisdiction and the legality of the Tribunal, announced the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a press release on Friday.
The Trial Chamber dismissed on July 27 the four Defense motions challenging the jurisdiction and legality of the Tribunal.
The counsel for three of the accused (Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine and Hussein Oneissi) appealed against this decision on August 24, 2012.
As part of his duties to ensure that the proceedings are not unduly delayed, Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has scheduled a Status Conference on September 28 at 10:00 a.m.
The Status Conference will be public, however the judge might decide to go into closed session during the course of the hearing if confidential matters need to be discussed.
The last Status Conference took place on July 26 2012.
Four Hizbullah members, Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra are wanted for the February 2005 suicide car bomb attack in Beirut that killed former Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others, including the suicide bomber.
The court on August 17 unsealed the indictment against the four suspects and has said Lebanon must try harder to apprehend them.
The Lebanese authorities have failed to arrest them.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he doubted the four indictees will ever be found and has branded the tribunal a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy aimed at bringing down the party.
Ayyash and Badreddine face five charges including that of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide, while Oneissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.
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