Lebanese assassination court opens

AN international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was officially opened yesterday at a ceremony in a village outside The Hague.

The court’s registrar, Robin Vincent, asked for a moment of silence to commemorate Hariri and the 22 others killed in a February 14, 2005, suicide bombing in Beirut.

“We are not here for the United Nations, nor for the international community, but for Lebanon. We are not here for the perpetrators of crimes, but for the victims of crime.”

Court prosecutor Daniel Bellemare of Canada said in a television interview he expects to ask within weeks for Lebanon to transfer to the court four pro-Syrian generals who are suspects in the assassination. The request “will be made as soon as possible,” Bellemare told pan-Arab al-Arabiya satellite TV channel.

“I have no reasons to believe that the Lebanese authorities will not respond in a timely fashion to the request,” he added.

The generals led Lebanon’s police, intelligence service and an elite army unit at the time of the assassination. They are the only people in custody, though they have not been formally charged.

The new court has a wing ready to detain suspects in a Hague jail that already holds Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and former Liberian president Charles Taylor, among other international war crimes suspects.

Yesterday a small group of Lebanese gathered outside the court to show their support. One of them waved a small piece of paper bearing the words “Thank you Holland” written in Dutch.

Bellemare told Dubai-based and Saudi-funded al-Arabiya he was not yet in a position to issue indictments, despite four years of complex investigations. “I will move on the indictments when I am ready. Unfortunately, I cannot tell or predict when this will be, but I can assure you I will do everything possible to make sure the investigation moves as quickly as possible.”