U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday
named Norman Farrell of Canada as the new prosecutor of the U.N.-backed Special
Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former prime
minister Rafik Hariri.
Farrell takes over as chief STL
prosecutor from another Canadian, Daniel Bellemare, whose three year mandate
ended Wednesday. The court has charged four Hizbullah members over the assassination.
Farrell, 53, had been deputy
prosecutor at the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has also
worked for the International Committee for the Red Cross in the Balkans and
Ethiopia.
"The secretary general once
again reiterates the commitment of the United Nations to the efforts of the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon to uncover the truth regarding the terrorist
attack" that killed Hariri and 22 others, said U.N. spokesman Martin
Nesirky.
Ban wants to "send a message
that impunity will not be tolerated."
The U.N. last week extended the
mandate of the tribunal for another three years.
The tribunal, set up by the U.N.
Security Council at the request of the Saniora government, announced in
February that it will put four Hizbullah members on trial even though they have
not yet been detained.
Warrants have been issued for Salim
Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra. The Lebanese
authorities have failed to arrest the four.
Ban also appointed Daniel David
Ntanda Nsereko of Uganda as an international judge of the Appeals Chamber of
the Special Tribunal.
Source:
Agence France Presse
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