Brammertz hands probe report over to Security Council

Daily Star, Brammertz hands probe report over to Security Council, July 20, 2007

By Rym Ghazal

BEIRUT: Belgian Prosecutor Serge Brammertz presented his eighth report Thursday to the UN Security Council and briefed them on the progress of the probe into the killing of Premier Rafik Hariri and others. "As in previous times, the Council expressed its support for Brammertz's work and its continuation," UN spokesperson Farhan Haq in New York told The Daily Star on the telephone.
In a copy of his briefing to the Council sent to The Daily Star, Brammertz reiterated the main points of his report and said the Commission will provide all the information it gathers to the international court to try those behind the killings.
"The Commission stands ready to cooperate with the secretary general and with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to ensure a smooth handover to the Tribunal at the time when the Tribunal shall begin functioning," Brammertz told the Council.
The UN spokesperson said Brammertz told reporters after the briefing that the Commission "is not ready" at this time to go to the court. "Mr. Brammertz said that the Commission needed more time, without specifying a timeline," said Haq.
During the briefing, Brammertz said Syria and other states continued to provide mostly positive responses to requests for assistance. "Cooperation with Syria remain generally satisfactory, Syria provided timely responses to the Commission's 11 requests for assistance during this reporting period."
Brammertz also said investigators had narrowed down possible motives for the slaying Hariri and some of the aspects "include, among others, the role of the Bank Al-Madina affair."
"The Commission is currently working on new information regarding the sale of the van to individuals who could be involved in its final preparation for the attack on Hariri," he said.
In the report the Commission said it uncovered new information about the buyers of the Mitsubishi Canter van "most likely used to carry the explosives" that killed Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005.
The report said the van was stolen from Japan in October 2004, then shipped to the UAE and later shipped to Lebanon, ending up in a showroom in Tripoli in December 2004.
The Brammertz report said attempts to block President Emile Lahoud's term extension via constitutional amendment "played an important role in shaping the environment in which the motives to assassinate Rafik Hariri emerged," specifically UN Resolution 1559.