The United States said Thursday that an "important step toward justice" has been taken with Lebanon receiving an indictment and arrest warrants for the murder of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a UN-backed court in The Hague that has been probing Hariri's 2005 murder, submitted a sealed indictment and arrest warrants to Lebanon's prosecutor general, officials told AFP.
"We've not actually seen the documents that were reportedly handed over to the Lebanese government by the Special Tribunal [...for] Lebanon, and so we can't comment at this point on their substance," State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters.
"But the confirmation of the indictments by the pre-trial judge and their delivery by the tribunal to the Lebanese prosecutor general is an important step towards justice and ending impunity for political assassinations in Lebanon," Toner added.
The special tribunal confirmed it had issued an indictment Tuesday and submitted a copy and related arrest warrants to Lebanese authorities on Thursday, but it disclosed neither the nature of the charges nor the identities of the suspects.
A judicial official in Lebanon told AFP arrest warrants were issued for four Lebanese suspects, identified by local media as members of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah officials contacted by AFP declined to comment.
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