Report: Bellemare Suffering from ‘Serious Illness’ but STL Work Ongoing

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Daniel Bellemare is suffering from an advanced stage of diabetes, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Thursday.

Bellemare has isolated himself in a room in Canada away from the people’s sight over his “serious illness,” it said.

STL spokesman Martin Youssef told the daily that the tribunal doesn’t “discuss the health” of those who are part of the tribunal, according to its policies.

“Concerning the work of the tribunal, I confirm that the work of the prosecutor’s office is ongoing without any administrative delay,” the spokesman said.

Youssef stressed that according to the tribunal’s policies only “United Nations General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon is allowed to appoint the prosecutor and his team for a period of three renewable years.”

He noted that Bellemare’s “mission” will end in February 2012.

Sources told the newspaper that the tribunal’s “work is moving forward,” noting that the absence of Bellemare didn’t “delay or obstruct” efforts to hold a trial in absentia or “any other form of the tribunal’s work.”

“Some officials are urging head of U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Patricia O'Brien to look for a successor for Bellemare, if his health condition deteriorated more,” the sources said.

The tribunal, based in The Hague, was created by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution, at Lebanon's request to try those responsible for the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others in Beirut.

In October, the STL announced it would hold a hearing on November 11 to discuss whether to try four Hizbullah operatives in absentia.

The court has indicted Hizbullah members Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra. However, they have not been arrested.