The arguments of the representative of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor, lawyer Lain Morley, during a hearing on Friday unveiled that the prosecution’s strategy at this stage lies on delaying in absentia trials in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case for a period of three months for several reasons.
Among them is the continuation of the investigation carried out by Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare despite the release of an indictment and expectations that he would issue more indictments within that period.
A delay in absentia trials would also keep most documents confidential pending the end of the probe. The prosecution fears that making the files unclassified would help the four Hizbullah suspects mislead the investigation and target the witnesses.
A three-month period would furthermore be an opportunity for the STL Prosecutor’s Office to be informed by the Lebanese authorities about the obstacles that are preventing them from serving the arrest warrants against the four Hizbullah suspects.
Lebanese General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza would most probably be the official who would relay that information after he said in his report to the STL that Lebanon is suffering from “delicate and security circumstances” that are preventing authorities from finding and arresting the suspects.
Morley wondered in his remarks at the hearing whether the “circumstances” that Mirza talked about had to do with a certain organization (a reference to Hizbullah) that has threatened to cut the hands of those who try to reach the suspects.
Informed sources said the prosecution believes that it’s not enough to task Lebanon’s judicial police with serving the arrest warrants. Bellemare’s office is hinting that it needs further info from Lebanese authorities as to what is preventing them from asking the Lebanese Army Intelligence, the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces and the General Directorate of State Security to search for the suspects.
The prosecution believes that the three agencies have more capabilities than the judicial police and are more skilled in monitoring the movements of the suspects on Lebanese territories and abroad.
Such facts have pushed the prosecution – in a veiled hint about the cooperation between Hizbullah and Lebanese security and military agencies - towards wondering whether Lebanese authorities were incapable of serving the warrants or were rejecting to do so.
Sources close to the Prosecutor’s Office told Naharnet that its insistence for the court to invite a representative of the Lebanese authorities to The Hague to clarify some points is aimed at pressuring Lebanon into making a final stance from its cooperation with the STL.
The sources said that if Lebanon is willing to arrest the suspects but is incapable to do so, then it should inform the STL about the reasons of its failure to find the Hizbullah members so that the court finds alternatives for their arrest.
However, continued statements by Lebanese officials about willingness to cooperate with the tribunal without any real action are one way or another an obstruction of justice and of the tribunal’s work, the sources added.
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