This blog of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) aims at granting the public opinion access to all information related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon : daily press review in english, french and arabic ; UN documents, etc...

Ce blog du
Centre Libanais des droits humains (CLDH) a pour objectif de rendre accessible à l'opinion publique toute l'information relative au Tribunal Spécial pour le Liban : revue de presse quotidienne en anglais, francais et arabe ; documents onusiens ; rapports, etc...
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PRESS REVIEW

April 17, 2009 - U.N. Tribunal Denies Release of 4 Generals Next Week

Special Tribunal for Lebanon official denied reports that the four generals detained for alleged involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafk Hariri would be released next week.
"The report is baseless because the tribunal's prosecutor Daniel Bellemare did not give an opinion regarding this issue," the official told BBC Arabic news.

The daily As Safir on Thursday quoted a defense attorney representing the four generals as saying that his defendants are likely to be freed before Monday.

Lebanese judicial sources said the Beirut government has not yet received an official letter from the court regarding the release of the four security and intelligence generals who have been held without trial for years in connection with Hariri's murder.

The STL official said Bellemare will issue a decision regarding the release or continued detention of the four men in a period not later than April 27.

He said that during a visit to Roumieh prison on Thursday, he informed the generals of their rights and told them that a lawyer would be appointed to represent them.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar clarified that April 27 is deadline for the pre-trial judge to look into a request to determine the fate of the four generals, and not ultimatum to release them.
"Pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen issued a ruling on Wednesday asking public prosecutor (Daniel Bellemare) to either justify the need to keep the prisoners in Lebanon in custody or to order their release by April 27," the STL said in a statement Thursday.
The four generals are Jamil Sayyed, Ali Hajj, Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan who respectively headed the General Security Department, the Internal Security Forces, Military Intelligence and the Presidential Guards Brigade.
Last week, Lebanese investigating judge Saqr Saqr lifted arrest warrants against the four men.
In a related development, Sayyed announced that the generals' defense attorneys were considering suing Saqr and Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza in The Hague court for "the crime of violating international standards, obstruction of justice and deprivation of liberty for political motives."

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Background - خلفية

On 13 December 2005 the Government of the Lebanese Republic requested the UN to establish a tribunal of an international character to try all those who are alleged responsible for the attack of 14 february 2005 that killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. The United Nations and the Lebanese Republic consequently negotiated an agreement on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Liens - Links - مواقع ذات صلة

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, David Schenker , March 30, 2010 . Beirut Spring: The Hariri Tribunal Goes Hunting for Hizballah


Frederic Megret, McGill University, 2008. A special tribunal for Lebanon: the UN Security Council and the emancipation of International Criminal Justice


International Center for Transitional Justice Handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, April 10, 2008


United Nations
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 19 Sept 2007
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 27 Mars 2008


Département d'Etat américain
* 2009 Human Rights report
* 2008 Human Rights report
* 2007 Human Rights report
* 2006 Human Rights report
* 2005 Human Rights report



ICG - International Crisis Group
The Hariri Tribunal: Separate the Political and the Judicial, 19 July, 2007. [Fr]


HCSS - Hague Centre for strategic studies
Hariri, Homicide and the Hague


Human Rights Watch
* Hariri Tribunal can restore faith in law, 11 may 2006
* Letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, april 27, 2006


Amnesty International
* STL insufficient without wider action to combat impunity
* Liban : le Tribunal de tous les dangers, mai 2007
* Jeu de mecano


Courrier de l'ACAT - Wadih Al Asmar
Le Tribunal spécial pour le Liban : entre espoir et inquiétude


Georges Corm
La justice penale internationale pour le Liban : bienfait ou malediction?


Nadim Shedadi and Elizabeth Wilmshurt, Chatham House
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon : the UN on Trial?, July 2007


Issam Michael Saliba, Law Library of Congress
International Tribunals, National Crimes and the Hariri Assassination : a novel development in International Criminal Law, June 2007


Mona Yacoubian, Council on Foreign Relations
Linkages between Special UN Tribunal, Lebanon, and Syria, June 1, 2007