BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Tuesday called for greater financial and administrative transparency and speedier sentencing in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon during a meeting with the court’s President Judge Ivana Hrdlickov? as she visited Beirut. “Delayed justice cannot [be considered real] justice,” the president said following his first meeting with the STL head since taking office.
He added that he “demands more financial and administrative transparency in the work of the court, given that Lebanon contributes half of the budget.” Lebanon covers 49 percent – around $32 million – of the STL’s running costs annually.
Hrdlickova congratulated Aoun on his election as President in October and briefed him on the case as well as the cooperation between the STL and Lebanon, Aoun’s media office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at Tuesday’s court session in The Hague, the prosecution called cell network investigator Gary Platt to the stand again.
Platt, an expert on covert cellular networks presented evidence on the movements of Salim Ayyash, one of four individuals indicted for plotting the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others.
Prosecutor Nigel Povoas asked investigator about Ayyash’s activities in the Bekaa Valley city of Anjar where the headquarters for Syria’s military intelligence operations in Lebanon during the country’s 29-year occupation were located. Cellular evidence allegedly indicated that Ayyash had made several phone calls in the area on Sep. 16, 2004. Accusations that Syria was involved in the assassination emerged after the attack, but are thus far unsubstantiated.
Trial chamber President Judge David Re questioned the significance of Platt’s testimony on Ayyash’s movements. “So are you saying that the military grade explosives were stored in the Syrian military base in Anjar?” he asked. “Are you saying Ayyash went to go on a scoping mission?”
Povoas avoided drawing any clear conclusions from the evidence. “The inferences can only go far ... [but] at a very significant time ... there was an unusual journey to this area,” Povoas said. “That journey took place during a phase ... that you can infer was the procurement phase in the conspiracy.”
Ayyash’s travel to the headquarters of Rustom Ghazaleh, chief Syrian intelligence officer in Lebanon who was based in Anjar from 2002, was also discussed. The intelligence official was investigated by the U.N. in 2005 when it came out that he had threatened Hariri’s life several times before his death.
Povoas said the “unusual location ... the two characters involved [and] their use of the covert phone networks ... [are some] of the many circumstances you can look at in drawing inferences at the end of the case.”
He added that he “demands more financial and administrative transparency in the work of the court, given that Lebanon contributes half of the budget.” Lebanon covers 49 percent – around $32 million – of the STL’s running costs annually.
Hrdlickova congratulated Aoun on his election as President in October and briefed him on the case as well as the cooperation between the STL and Lebanon, Aoun’s media office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at Tuesday’s court session in The Hague, the prosecution called cell network investigator Gary Platt to the stand again.
Platt, an expert on covert cellular networks presented evidence on the movements of Salim Ayyash, one of four individuals indicted for plotting the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others.
Prosecutor Nigel Povoas asked investigator about Ayyash’s activities in the Bekaa Valley city of Anjar where the headquarters for Syria’s military intelligence operations in Lebanon during the country’s 29-year occupation were located. Cellular evidence allegedly indicated that Ayyash had made several phone calls in the area on Sep. 16, 2004. Accusations that Syria was involved in the assassination emerged after the attack, but are thus far unsubstantiated.
Trial chamber President Judge David Re questioned the significance of Platt’s testimony on Ayyash’s movements. “So are you saying that the military grade explosives were stored in the Syrian military base in Anjar?” he asked. “Are you saying Ayyash went to go on a scoping mission?”
Povoas avoided drawing any clear conclusions from the evidence. “The inferences can only go far ... [but] at a very significant time ... there was an unusual journey to this area,” Povoas said. “That journey took place during a phase ... that you can infer was the procurement phase in the conspiracy.”
Ayyash’s travel to the headquarters of Rustom Ghazaleh, chief Syrian intelligence officer in Lebanon who was based in Anjar from 2002, was also discussed. The intelligence official was investigated by the U.N. in 2005 when it came out that he had threatened Hariri’s life several times before his death.
Povoas said the “unusual location ... the two characters involved [and] their use of the covert phone networks ... [are some] of the many circumstances you can look at in drawing inferences at the end of the case.”
Source & Link : The Daily Star
No comments:
Post a Comment