The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

Search This Blog

March 8, 2012

The Daily Star - Baragwanath: 2012 set to be a year of major developments for the STL, March 8, 2012


BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Wednesday released its third annual report, covering the activities of the court over the last year.
The report covers the period from March 2011 to the end of January 2012, and documents the confirmation of the first indictment, issued in January 2011.
It details the finding by the Pre-Trial Judge that three further attacks – against Marwan Hamade, George Hawi and Elias Murr – were connected, thus giving the Tribunal jurisdiction over them.
It also covers the decision by the Trial Chamber to try the four accused Hezbollah members in absentia – the first time an international criminal court has done so.
The report marks the beginning of the STL’s second mandate, which began on March 1 and which will continue for another three years. The annual report reveals that the approved budget for the Tribunal, between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2012, is 55.3 million euros ($72.5 million).
In the foreword, the court’s president, David Baragwanath, in the foreword says that the report “looks forward to the year to come, which we expect to be one of major developments, including judicial activity.”
The conclusion states the key aims of the Tribunal: to continue with investigations, to “support the Lebanese people in coming to terms with the serious consequences of the assassinations and, more generally, to assist in restoring faith in the rule of law in a country where assassinations have been employed as a political technique,” and thirdly to deliver justice fairly, and promptly.
Until Feb. 28, 2013, the report adds, “the Tribunal may be expected to start trial proceedings against the four accused and to “prepare to consider charges in any other cases.”
The report reiterates that “after this ... phase, Lebanon will be able to leave this troubled period behind, remembering its ancient past as the cradle of modern civil law, and finally free to focus on the future.”


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Mar-08/165938-baragwanath-2012-set-to-be-a-year-of-major-developments-for-the-stl.ashx#axzz1oM3eP0Kk

No comments:

Post a Comment

Archives