STL Grants Victim Status to Nine More People

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has granted nine additional persons the status of victims participating in the Ayyash et al proceedings, the STL said Tuesday in a statement.

The nine victims will form part of the existing group of 58 victims whose status as victims participating in the proceedings was recognized by Fransen in May 2012.

"The Pre-Trial Judge's decision to increase the number of participating victims is a timely reminder that, whatever motives lay behind the detonation of 14 February 2005, there remains a substantial body of people across the divides of politics or religion for whom the event was life-changing,” said Peter Haynes, lead legal representative for victims.

“For them the Tribunal's work in discovering the truth behind their loss is a vital belief to cling to," he added.

Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others were killed in a suicide car bomb on February 14, 2005 in Beirut.

According to an STL indictment that was unsealed in August, 231 individuals were injured in the attack.

The indictment accused four Hizbullah members, Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra, of being involved in the crime.

Ayyash has been named in the indictment as coordinator of the assassination team.

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.