The Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is looking into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri stressed on Monday that it is committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice.
In its tenth annual report, it said that “the closing arguments affirmed the important and incomparable role the Tribunal plays in ensuring the perpetrators of the February 14, 2005 attack are not shielded by impunity.”
The STL submitted the report to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Lebanese government.
Hariri was killed in a massive bombing in Beirut in February 2005. The UN Security Council classified his murder as a "terrorist" crime, appointed an international commission of inquiry, and then established the STL for the prosecution of the accused.
Four Hezbollah members have been indicted in the crime. Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra currently facing trial in absentia. They are charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, along with a number of other related charges.
The annual report details the activities of the Tribunal from March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2019, its objectives for the coming year and highlights the achievements of the four organs: Chambers, Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), Defense Office and Registry, said the STL in a press release.
Chambers report that the trial proceedings in the Ayyash et al. case constituted their main public judicial activities.
The Trial Chamber is now reviewing the evidence before it and deliberating as to whether the Prosecution had proven its case against the four Accused beyond reasonable doubt.
It also mentions that the precise timing of the judgment will depend upon the complexity of the legal and factual issues subject to the Trial Chamber’s confidential deliberations.
Following the conclusion of the evidence, the Prosecution filed a Final Trial Brief and presented its closing arguments in the Ayyash et al. case against the individuals accused of criminal responsibility for the attack against Hariri.
The Office of the Prosecutor is prepared to move forward quickly when the updated confidential indictment is refiled.
STL President Judge Ivana Hrdličková concluded that the STL's focus for the next year is on the judicial deliberations and the preparation of the judgment awaited by the victims of the February 2005 attack, the Lebanese public and the wider international community.
