Naharnet - It is Official! International Tribunal Starts Operating on March 1, November 27, 2008

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said the international tribunal that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins is on track to start operations in March.
"On the basis of the progress so far reported ... it is envisaged that the Special Tribunal will commence functioning on 1 March 2009," Ban wrote in a report issued to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

"Practical arrangements for the prosecutor to arrive in The Hague on 1 March 2009 and to continue the investigation with the minimum of disruption to the investigation will soon be finalized," the third report on the court said.

The last report on the international tribunal was issued March 12.

The tribunal, in charge of trying the Hariri murder suspects, was authorized by Security Council Resolution 1757 dated June 2, 2007.

But the court has not begun to meet, mainly because the probe into the case continues.

The tribunal will have 11 judges, including four from Lebanon, and will be based in The Hague.

"I will be taking a decision regarding the commencement of the Special Tribunal on 1 March 2009, after a transition period starting on 1 January 2009," Ban wrote.

Canadian Daniel Bellemare, who heads the U.N. panel probing the Feb. 2005 Hariri assassination, will become the tribunal's prosecutor once the probe into the Hariri and related cases is completed. He will have a Lebanese deputy.

The investigation commission's mandate expires in December. Ban said that Bellemare will ask for a two-month extension of the panel's mandate.

"It is my belief that the impending start of the Special Tribunal will send a strong signal that the government of Lebanon and the United Nations remain committed to ending impunity in Lebanon.

The Special Tribunal "sets out to deliver the highest standards of international justice and, in this regard, I trust that all member states will cooperate to achieve its mandate," Ban said.

The U.N. chief's report said the proposed budget for establishing the court and for its first year of operations was $51.1 million, and there was sufficient money in hand to go ahead with it.

An Nahar daily on Thursday quoted U.N. sources as saying that Bellemare will hand over his report on progress made into the Hariri crime to Security Council members next Monday.

The Council will discuss the report on Dec. 16, it said.

The Security Council also discussed on Wednesday Ban's eighth report on the implementation of resolution 1701.