Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef hailed on
Friday a decision by an STL judge to set March 25 as the tentative date to
start the trial in absentia of four suspects and stressed new evidence should
be provided to ask for a change in that date.
In remarks to al-Joumhouria daily, Youssef said Pre-Trial Judge
Daniel Fransen’s decision “is a unique opportunity for the international
tribunal and the Lebanese people and is an important step on the road to
trials.”
“This step would come two years after the release of the
indictment which gives enough time for the defense and the prosecution to get
ready for the trials,” the spokesman of the Tribunal that is set to try
ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 suspected assassins said.
But he told the newspaper the involved parties have the right to
appeal Fransen’s decision by proving that they have new evidence that would
justify the change of the tentative date.
The STL said in a press release on Thursday that the date may be
subject to change pending further developments, such as the possibility of the
Prosecutor filing a request to amend the indictment, or the arrest of an
accused.
It is also subject to the Trial Chamber's decision on the
Tribunal's jurisdiction and their rulings on other preliminary motions.
The STL is the only international court that allows trials in
absentia. The four suspects are Hizbullah members Salim Ayyash, Mustafa
Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra.
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