Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare referred a new indictment to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel
Fransen in the attacks on the three Lebanese officials that have been linked to
ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.
Sources close to the prosecutor’s
office told the daily that Bellemare referred to Fransen in the past few days
the new indictment in the assassination attempts of MP Marwan Hamadeh,
ex-Defense Minister Elias Murr, and the murder of former Communist party leader
George Hawi.
Media reports had said that
Bellemare was expected to issue a new indictment before he leaves his post in
March. His successor has not yet been named.
The sources didn’t disclose the
content of the indictment, hinting that it might include a fifth suspect linked
to Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.
STL spokesman Marten Youssef said
during an interview with An Nahar newspaper this month that Bellemare can
follow two ways to refer an indictment to Fransen: either discreetly, or he can
refer it without revealing its context (to the public).
Eight lawyers have been selected to
represent four Hizbullah members due to be tried in absentia for Hariri’s
assassination.
Each of the four defendants will
have a counsel and co-counsel who "are fully independent and can choose
any strategy they see best fit to defend the rights of the accused,” the court
has said.
The Hague-based tribunal indicted
Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra and sent
arrest warrants for them to Lebanese authorities in June last year.
But the authorities in Lebanon have
so far failed to arrest them.
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