All elements in place for Hariri tribunal – UN boss

 

UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced progress in the establishment of Lebanon”s Special Tribunal in his second report to the Security Council on the matter, his spokesperson reported on Wednesday. “Everything relating to the preliminary phase of establishing the tribunal has been achieved,” UN spokeswoman Michelle Montas told the Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal.

 

“Agreements have been reached on the court”s location in Holland, and appointment of the judges, the general prosecutor, the clerk and the head of the defense office,” she said.

 

Montas said the latest developments concerning the tribunal”s funding will be submitted to the court”s administrative committee, which includes Lebanon, the US, France, Britain, Germany, Holland and the UN.

 

In the report, Ban reiterated the UN”s commitment to the tribunal”s efficient course of action. “I am confident our joint efforts will help the Lebanese people and their government to reach the common objective of seeing justice and the rule of law.”

 

He added that unofficial discussions between the tribunal”s judges would lead to establishing procedural rules very soon.

 

Montas also said the resignation of Undersecretary General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel was due to family matters, and that it has no political or administrative relevance.

 

Meanwhile, the former head of the UN International Independent Investigative Commission into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri told LBCI television on Tuesday that he still considered the detainment of the four former security chiefs legal. “As an observer, I think their detainment is fully legal,” Detlev Mehlis told TV hostess May Chidiac during the weekly “Bi Kul Jura”a” political talk show.

The four former security chiefs – Jamil al-Sayyed of General Security, Ali al-Hajj of the Internal Security Forces, Raymond Azar of army intelligence and Mustafa Hamdan of the Presidential Guards – have been detained since 2005 for alleged involvement in Hariri”s killing.

 

In the interview Mehlis said he had recommended that the four former generals be put into provisional detention.

 

“We had indications that they were planning to leave the country and most importantly we had indications of their strong involvement in the murder,” he said, adding that he had never seen “an official UN recommendation to release the suspects.”

 

In response to Mehlis” interview, Sayyed issued a statement Wednesday saying the interview was aimed at “improving the prosecutor”s image among the Lebanese.”

 

“Mehlis” claims that he ordered our detainment because he had indications we were planning to leave the country are baseless; why didn”t he order the detainment of his witnesses?” Sayyed asked. “The two witnesses Mohammad Zuhair al-Siddiq and Hussam Hussam, whom Mehlis claims offered valuable information about their involvement in the assassination, remain at large,” he added.

 

Sayyed accused the former prosecutor of “lies and fabrications,” and said he was planning to file a second lawsuit against Mehlis. He also stressed that Mehlis was “highly evasive and nervous when tackling the issue of Siddiq and Hussam.