Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Latest stories
Miqati: Government Stresses it Will Follow up on Consequences of Indictment

Prime Minister Najib Miqati revealed on Thursday that the new government stresses that it will follow up on the consequences and procedures of the indictment in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon after its release.

He said during a press conference: “The consensus on the need to uncover the truth in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was affected by the procedures that accompanied the international investigation.”

W140 Full Story
Gemayel Says Party Not Compelled by March 14 General-Secretariat Street Action Remarks

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday wondered “whether Prime Minister Najib Miqati will be able to reconcile between what he’s been saying regarding keenness on (Lebanon’s) international relations … and the objectives of Hizbullah, which had designated him” as premier.

In an interview on Al-Jadeed television, Gemayel added: “We have no problem with PM Miqati or with the ministers, but the government was formed for certain purposes: preserving (Hizbullah’s) weapons and abolishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”

W140 Full Story
Policy Statement Committee Discusses Economic Clauses without Tackling STL

The ministerial committee tasked with drafting the Policy Statement of the new government on Wednesday pursued its discussions and agreed on a host of clauses pertaining to the economic, financial and developmental policies.

The committee, however, did not tackle the controversial clause on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

W140 Full Story
Mehlis Accuses Assad of Assassinating Hariri over Alleged Coup Plot

Former chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis has accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of ordering the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri for allegedly seeking to topple his regime.

Mehlis said in an interview with the German radio Deutsche Welle on Thursday that Assad ordered Hariri’s Feb. 2005 killing after Damascus “suspected that he was seeking to topple the Syrian regime and disarm Hizbullah in cooperation with France and U.S.”

W140 Full Story
March 14 Warns Against Attempts to Put STL on Parliament Session Agenda

March 14 lawmakers have accused Speaker Nabih Berri of putting the speakership in confrontation of not only the March 14 forces but also the Cedar Revolution after he said it took Lebanon back 60 years on the democratic level.

In remarks to An Nahar daily on Tuesday, the sources warned that Berri was making attempts to put on the agenda of a parliamentary session on June 8 the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Lebanon’s commitment to it.

W140 Full Story
Cassese Sets Deadline for Bellemare to File Response to Sayyed’s Appeal

Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, has set a deadline of June 10 for STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to file a response, if any, to the appeal filed on May 23 by Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, Lebanon’s former General Security chief, against STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s ruling on the disclosure of more than 270 investigation documents to Sayyed, STL’s press office said Wednesday.

“The Prosecutor shall file a response, if any, to the Appeal by 10 June 2011 and the Appellant a reply thereto, if any, by 22 June 2011,” says Cassese in his scheduling order.

W140 Full Story
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."

W140 Full Story
Connelly Meets Miqati, Hopes New Govt Will Uphold STL Support

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Thursday held talks with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and discussed with him the U.S. administration’s “developing view on the dramatic events that have occurred and continue to occur in the region,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement after the meeting.

“Connelly expressed the U.S. government’s view that the governments of the region ought to listen to their people, refrain from violence, and engage in political dialogue in order to insure that the legitimate changes and reforms they demand can begin to be implemented,” according to the embassy’s statement.

W140 Full Story
Fransen Orders Release of More Than 270 Probe Documents to Sayyed

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has ordered that STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare release more than 270 documents to Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, Lebanon’s former General Security chief, STL’s press office said Thursday.

“Fransen ruled that Mr. Sayyed would receive some of the documents in the possession of the STL Prosecutor very soon. A large majority of these will be disclosed to Mr. Sayyed, whilst others can only be inspected by his counsel,” the press office clarified in a communiqué.

W140 Full Story
Bellemare Files Amended Indictment Containing ‘Substantive New Elements’

The Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Daniel Bellemare, filed an amended indictment on Friday, replacing the indictment of March 11, 2011, to include substantive new elements unavailable until recently.

The Prosecutor does not intend to make further amendments to the indictment, unless ordered to do so by the Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen, said the STL press office in a statement on Friday.

W140 Full Story