President of the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon Judge Sir David Baragwanath will arrive in Lebanon on
April 1, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.
“Baragwanath has
informed the Lebanese authorities about his expected visit in an official
letter sent to Lebanon’s embassy” in the Netherlands, sources told the daily.
According to the
sources, the STL president will ink a “memorandum of understanding” with head
of the Bar Association in Beirut and Tripoli.
The daily reported that
Baragwanath is seeking to allow the families of the victims of the
assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, who are included in the first indictment
issued by the STL and the expected one, to appoint the attorneys that they want
during the proceedings of the trial.
“Baragwanath will also
hold meetings with senior Lebanese officials, academics, diplomats, and
reporters,” the sources added.
They revealed that
Baragwanath and the Lebanese vice president, Judge Ralph Riachi, held a meeting
with a high-ranking Lebanese diplomat at the Lebanese embassy in the
Netherlands in February.
The meeting was aimed at
setting the agenda of the STL president’s expected visit to Lebanon in April,
the daily said.
“Baragwanath described
the meeting as productive and useful, in order to launch the tribunal’s
campaign against Hizbullah and its allies, who are questioning its
credibility,” the sources told the daily.
The tribunal, set up by
the U.N. Security Council at the request of a past Lebanese government to try
those responsible for the assassination of Hariri in 2005, announced in
February that it will put four Hizbullah members on trial even though they have
not yet been detained.
Arrest warrants have
been issued for the four -- Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi
and Assad Sabra -- but they remain at large.
Hizbullah has described
the court as a “U.S.-Israeli” tool aimed at targeting the resistance and sowing
sectarian strife in the region.
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