UN tribunal publishes indictment in murder of former Lebanese PM Hariri

[News_Editor]

UN tribunal publishes indictment in murder of former Lebanese PM Hariri

2011-08-18 01:41:12 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) investigating the 2005 death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Wednesday disclosed the contents of its indictment accusing four Lebanese of the crime.

The indictment contains evidence gathered against four suspects who are all Lebanese and have been linked to Hezbollah. The names of the four Hezbollah members were first leaked to the media in June when the STL handed over to Lebanon's State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza the sealed indictments and arrest warrants against the four men.

The court also released the full arrest warrants for the men, who were identified as Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra. The indictment details each individual's role in the crime including detailed cell phone data, which placed the accused close to Hariri in several instances in the weeks preceding the attack.

All four have each been charged with one count of Conspiracy aimed at committing a Terrorist Act. Badreddine and Ayyash have also each been charged with one count of Committing a Terrorist Act by means of an explosive device, one count of Intentional Homicide of Hariri with premeditation by using explosive materials, one count of Intentional Homicide of 21 people in addition to Hariri with premeditation by using explosive materials, and one count of Attempted Intentional Homicide of 231 people with premeditation by using explosive materials.

In addition, Badreddine and Ayyash have also each been charged with one count of Being an Accomplice to the felony of Committing a Terrorist Act by means of an explosive device, and three counts of being an accomplice to the felony of intentional homicide of 22 people including Hariri and the attempted intentional homicide of 231 people.

"The case against the Accused is built in large part on circumstantial evidence," the indictment notes. "Circumstantial evidence, which works logically by inference and deduction, is often more reliable than direct evidence, which can suffer from first-hand memory loss or eye-witness distortion. It is a recognized legal principle that circumstantial evidence has similar weight and probative value as direct evidence and that circumstantial evidence can be stronger than direct evidence."

According to the indictment, Badreddine served as the overall controller of the operation while Ayyash coordinated the assassination team, which was responsible for the physical preparation of the attack. Onessisi and Sabra, meanwhile, had the task of preparing the false claim of responsibility, which served to identify the wrong people to investigate.

In a separate statement, STL prosecutor Daniel Bellemare welcomed making the indictment public. "This Order will finally inform the public and the victims about the facts alleged in the indictment regarding the commission of the crime that led to charging the four accused," Bellemare said.

He added: "This unsealing of the indictment answers many questions about the 14 February 2005 attack. The full story will however only unfold in the courtroom, where an open, public, fair and transparent trial will render a final verdict."

Hariri was killed along with 22 others on February 14, 2005, when a massive blast struck his motorcade in a seafront district of Beirut. The assassination sparked the so-called Cedar Revolution, a wave of mass protests which forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year deployment.

Hezbollah has claimed that the U.N.-backed tribunal's probe is marred by witnesses who gave false information and has urged the Lebanese government to deal with these 'false witnesses' in the tribunal. According to the Daily Star newspaper, the Shiite movement has also repeatedly slammed the tribunal as a "U.S.-Israeli" project aimed at targeting the resistance group, and has vowed not to cooperate with the court.

The STL, which was established in 2007, has been a point of contention among the country's rival political parties and led to the collapse of the government of Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, who leads the March 14 alliance, earlier this year.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-08-18