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By Willow Osgood
BEIRUT: The prosecutor for the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon thanked the Lebanese for their support and
emphasized his continued belief in the “fight against impunity” in an open
letter released Monday, just over a week before he is to resign from his
position.
“I want to thank you for your
support and trust in carrying out these profoundly important mandates. And
for the journey of progress we have traveled together,” Prosecutor Daniel
Bellemare wrote in the letter, addressed to “the People of Lebanon.”
Bellemare announced last
December that he would not seek to be reappointed as prosecutor for the
U.N.-backed court’s second mandate, which is expected to begin in March. As
the STL’s first prosecutor, he has led the investigation into the
assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri since 2009.
Nearly three years on, Lebanon
remains deeply divided over the court, which is denounced by many as a
Western tool targeting the resistance and lauded by others as the means to
achieve justice in the aftermath of the assassinations of the mid-2000s, a
position that Bellemare defended in the letter.
“During my tenure, I often felt
that the fight against impunity would be a long and difficult journey.
Nonetheless, I continued to be passionate about the mission and about
Lebanon,” he wrote. “The people of Lebanon deserve no less. They deserve a
society free of impunity, a society based on a culture of accountability.”
Under Bellemare, the focus of
the investigation centered on telecommunications records that he alleges
implicate four members of Hezbollah in the 2005 attack that killed Hariri
and 22 others. The four indicted men remain at large and Bellemare’s
successor will take up the case against them when in absentia proceedings
begin later this year.
Former Prime Minister Saad
Hariri took to Twitter Monday to reiterate that the court will “try those
individuals responsible for the assassination of Rafik Hariri, and not a
party or a group or a sect.”
Bellemare admitted the
difficulty of his task but wrote that his decision to resign was also not
easy.
“While it has been anything but
easy, it has been immensely fulfilling both personally and professionally,”
he wrote. “It should come as no surprise that my decision not to seek
reappointment for a second term was indeed a very difficult one.”
He also thanked the Lebanese
authorities for their “continued cooperation and assistance.”
Bellemare did not mention
whether he intends to submit an additional indictment in the Hariri case or
connected cases before he resigns. Reports of an impending indictment began
after the prosecutor met with a number of political and judicial officials
on a farewell visit to Lebanon last month.
The court said earlier this
month that the process to appoint a new prosecutor was “under way.”
Separately, the STL announced
Monday several amendments – most of which relate to the participation of
victims in the upcoming trial – to its Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
One amendment allows the
pretrial judge to decide on the grouping of victims of the 2005 attack who
wish to participate in the trial. It is possible, for example, that
individuals belonging to the same family could be considered as one group.
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