Roux to Arrive in Lebanon Next Week, to Meet Senior Officials

Head of the international tribunal's defense office Francois Roux is expected to arrive in Beirut in the coming week to meet with senior Lebanese officials.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Friday, Roux will hold talks with several politicians, diplomats and Head of Beirut Bar Association Nuhad Jabr and Head of Tripoli's Bar Association Bassam Dayeh.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has scheduled a Status Conference on Friday 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.

The Appeals Chamber has also scheduled an open hearing next Monday at 9:15 a.m. to hear the appeal against the decision on the jurisdiction and the legality of the Tribunal, announced the STL in a press release last 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.

Four Hizbullah members, Ayyash, Badreddine, 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.