'Suspects identified' in Hariri assasination probe

A UN inquiry has identified people who may have been involved in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and is investigating new information about the buyers of a van used in the bombing, the chief investigator said.

While not identifying anyone by name, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz said investigators had “significantly narrowed down” possible motives for the killing to Hariri’s political and personal relationships in Lebanon, Syria and other countries.

He said investigators believed the UN Security Council resolution in September 2004 aimed at blocking Lebanon’s pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud from a second term “played an important role in shaping the environment in which the motives to assassinate Rafik Hariri emerged”.

Lebanon’s Parliament ignored the council and voted hours after the resolution was adopted to amend the constitution so Lahoud could keep his job.

Brammertz did not provide any clues to those who may have been involved.

He also said Syria and other states continued to provide ”mostly positive responses” to requests for assistance. Syria, which many Lebanese have blamed for the assassination, strongly denies being involved.

The first UN chief investigator, Germany’s Detlev Mehlis, previously said the plot’s complexity suggested that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services had a role. Four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals have been under arrest 20 months for alleged involvement in the murder.

Brammertz has not echoed Mehlis’ view.

In his eighth report, Brammertz signalled for the first time that the UN International Independent Investigation Commission would wrap up its work and transfer files and findings to the international tribunal established by the council on May 30 to prosecute suspects in the plot.

He said information on the truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others in February 2005 has been consolidated into reports totalling more than 2,400 pages to help ensure “a smooth handover at the appropriate time in the near future” to the new tribunal’s prosecutor.

The Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report on July 19, UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.