Former Lebanese PM and current opposition leader Saad Hariri praised in a statement on Wednesday the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)’s decision to publish the indictment for the 2005 murder of his father, former PM Rafik Hariri and urged Hezbollah to cooperate with the court.
“We demand that Hezbollah should simply detach itself from the suspects… we want to see a fair trial,” the statement that was issued by Hariri’s office quoted him as saying.
Hariri called on Hezbollah chief to turn over the four suspects accused of murdering Rafik Hariri.
Hariri also said that STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s decision to unseal the indictment is a “breakthrough” in the path of achieving justice.
“International justice has decided today to reveal a significant part of the evidence linked to the murder,” Hariri added.
He voiced gratitude for “the efforts exerted by the STL,” and for the investigations conducted by the international commission that probed Rafik Hariri’s murder.
The Iranian and Syrian -backed Hezbollah brought down PM Saad Hariri’s government on January 12 over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) imminent indictment.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued the indictments and arrest warrants in the assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Hariri on June 30. Two of the suspects Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash are reportedly senior members of Hezbollah and played leading roles in the assassination while the other two Hezbollah members Hassan Aneissy, also known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra played a supporting role in the execution of the assassination.
Lebanon had 30 days to find and arrest the suspects but Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said on July 2 that the party would not cooperate with the tribunal.
“No Lebanese government will be able to carry out any arrests whether in 30 days, 30 years or even 300 years.”
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