Daily Star - Registrar of Hariri court to take up post this week Robin Vincent will function as 'manager' of tribunal, April 30, 2008
By Michael Bluhm
The establishment of the UN tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has moved one step closer, as the UN announced on Tuesday that the tribunal's registrar was formally taking office this week. As registrar, Robin Vincent will function akin to the manager of the tribunal, preparing the premises of the tribunal in Holland's The Hague, recruiting administrative personnel and laying out the court's budget, said the statement issued by the office of UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
UN Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel has said that when Vincent entered office, it would represent an "important sign" on the road to the creation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The statement added that Vincent would also be "coordinating the transition" between the commission investigating Hariri's killing and the tribunal, but a UN spokesperson said no one should interpret that as meaning the tribunal would arise in the near future.
"We are not saying it's going to be happening tomorrow," Radhia Achouri, senior communications adviser to Michel, told The Daily Star. "That's not our intention."
The wording about the transition referred to the eventual transfer of commission staff from their positions to new posts in the tribunal, she added.
"Definitely we don't mean that these people are going to be going immediately," Achouri said. Vincent, a British citizen, will continue working from UN headquarters in New York and should move to The Hague before summer, Achouri added.
The speed of the establishment has turned into a political issue, as the tribunal has assumed a major role on the political row that has polarized Lebanon for nearly 18 months, with the March 14 governing coalition leading the push for the tribunal's rapid establishment.
Justice Minister Charles Rizk proposed two weeks ago that the Cabinet approve the extension of the investigation commission's mandate past June 15 with the proviso that the commission's chief take up his planned role as the tribunal's prosecutor on the same date.
Rizk and his compatriots in the March 14 governing coalition have long been staunch backers of the tribunal and outspoken critics of Syria, whom many March 14 members blame for Hariri's assassination and the string of political violence that has plagued Lebanon.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied any involvement in Hariri's killing and has said Syria will not allow its citizens to appear before the tribunal, while some in Lebanon's Syrian-backed opposition have voiced concerns that the tribunal could be manipulated for political ends.
The investigating commission chief, Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, said in his April 8 report to the UN Security Council that he believed "political motivation" stood behind Hariri's assassination and that a "criminal network" had carried out the February 14, 2005 killing and remained active. Syrian relations with the US soured dramatically after the killing, and the US has kicked in $14 million of the $60.3 million pledged for the operations of the tribunal.
Vincent is putting the "final touches" on the tribunal's budget, which needs approval from the management committee overseeing the tribunal's operations, Achouri said. The management committee is composed of the UN, the host country and major donors to the tribunal, such as the US.
The budget will include money to refurbish the former Dutch intelligence building housing the tribunal, perhaps for the construction of one or two courtrooms, Achouri added.
Vincent, who also served as the registrar of the Special court for Sierra Leone, was appointed to his post at the Hariri tribunal on March 10 by Ban
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