June 16, 2009 - Daily Star - STL refuses to respond to criticism over procedural changes

By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff

BEIRUT: The United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on Monday did not respond to remarks made in a Lebanese newspaper, criticizing recent changes to its operating mandate.
On Monday, Al-Akhbar newspaper suggested that amendments to the 14 Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE), adopted unanimously by STL judges, could "blow the transparency of the tribunal."
In particular, the revision related to rule 96 - on exposing the court to skepticism - could allow the STL to "hide information" up to a non-specific date "if it needed to protect any person," it said.
A spokesperson for STL told The Daily Star: "For us it's just another article. Our policy is not to react to what the press says on its own interpretation of current developments."
"We don't react publicly to these sorts of things. The RPE are a matter for the judges. They are the ones who adopt them or refuse them. It's their prerogative," Radhia Ashouri said.
The STL was set up to try those allegedly responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed along with 22 others by a massive car bomb in Beirut's Ain al-Mraisseh on February 14, 2005. It has been plagued by controversy since its inception in 2007.
Al-Akhbar's report comes six weeks after the STL ordered the release of four Lebanese generals held without charge since 2005 on suspicion of involvement in Hariri's assassination.
The verdict was based on prosecutor Daniel Bellemare's report stating there was insufficient evidence to hold the men any longer.
Bellemare cited additional reasons for the men's release, including the fact that "a key witness expressly retracted his original statement which incriminated the persons detained."
The four, who headed Lebanon's pro-Syrian security institutions when Hariri was killed, had been incarcerated since August 2005 on the recommendation of former UN investigator Detlev Mehlis. None were ever formally charged.
Hariri's murder has been widely blamed on Damascus and prompted the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after 30 years involvement in the country's political affairs.
Last month, the German publication Der Spiegel alleged that Hizbullah, not Syria, was behind Hariri's assassination, an allegation vigorously denied by the Shiite group.
The magazine claimed to have "learned from sources close to the tribunal and verified by examining internal documents" that the Hizbullah special forces "planned and executed [Hariri's assassination]."
A Hizbullah statement dismissed the accusations as "nothing but police-like fabrications."