No Timeframe for Indictment Review, Says STL Spokesperson

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesperson Marten Youssef has reiterated that there is no fixed timeframe for the review of the indictment and the supporting material submitted by STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen.

Asked whether the indictment's amendments filed by Bellemare on March 11 and May 6 had anything to do with the current political vacuum in Lebanon or the uprisings in the region, especially in Syria, Youssef told Lebanese daily Sada al-Balad that STL's judicial measures are "based on evidence" and administered by judges abiding by the "highest level of impartiality."

This means that politics cannot influence the tribunal's work at any given stage, Sada al-Balad quoted Youssef as saying, in an interview to be published Friday.

The spokesperson stressed that any speculations about the indictment's content are unbeneficial, describing them as mere assumptions.