BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon can start trials at any stage of the investigation, a court judge said Thursday.
“There is no need to wait for the entire outcome of the probe to begin the trial,” said the judge, who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.
STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has said it would be “premature” to start the in absentia trial of the four Hezbollah members charged with the 2005 assassination of five-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The judge said Bellemare’s comments were his personal opinion and that the STL was not obliged to adhere to them. The court will hold a session Friday on the validity of in absentia trials.
“If the proceedings were found to be appropriate, then the court will set a date for in absentia trials in the coming days,” the judge added.
On whether Bellemare’s recent statements indicated that a new batch of indictments was going to be issued, the judge told The Daily Star: “If new indictments were issued they would be added to the main case. There is no need to wait for the entire outcome of the probe to begin the trial.”
“There is no need to wait for the entire outcome of the probe to begin the trial,” said the judge, who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.
STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has said it would be “premature” to start the in absentia trial of the four Hezbollah members charged with the 2005 assassination of five-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The judge said Bellemare’s comments were his personal opinion and that the STL was not obliged to adhere to them. The court will hold a session Friday on the validity of in absentia trials.
“If the proceedings were found to be appropriate, then the court will set a date for in absentia trials in the coming days,” the judge added.
On whether Bellemare’s recent statements indicated that a new batch of indictments was going to be issued, the judge told The Daily Star: “If new indictments were issued they would be added to the main case. There is no need to wait for the entire outcome of the probe to begin the trial.”
No comments:
Post a Comment