March 8 sources are reportedly of the opinion that the Lebanese Judicial authorities have already received the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ( STL) indictment in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri ahead of its announcement, according to An Nahar newspaper report published on Sunday.
March 14 sources also reportedly told An Nahar that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on Friday is evidence that the Lebanese authorities have received the indictment seeing as his speech “did not carry any particular message and took place at the last minute, and was not held on any specific occasion even though he talked about the CIA spies and reiterated his support to the Syrian regime.”
The March 14 sources added: “What he didn’t say was more important than what he did say even though he did announce that he is not concerned with the STL.”
The sources said his reluctance to say anything about the indictment is aimed at showing that he does not recognize the state and at the same he did not want to appear negative towards the state .
The question An Nahar asked: Did the Lebanese authorities receive the indictment in time to prepare the ministerial policy statement , the main issue that has been delaying its announcement ?
In a related development, Justice Ministry sources reportedly revealed to the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper Sunday that the Lebanese judges working for the STL have already headed to The Hague.
They interpreted this development as a sign that the indictment will be officially released during the first week of July.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) an international tribunal was created for the prosecution of those responsible for Hariri’s assassination . Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005 ( see above photo) . The tribunal also has jurisdiction over a series of other attacks in Lebanon (between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005) if they are proven to be connected with the Hariri assassination. The court is based in Leidschendam, near The Hague, in the Netherlands and it has a field office in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah brought down PM Saad Hariri’s government on January 12 over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s imminent indictment which is widely expected to implicate Hezbollah members in Hariri’s assassination
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.