June 10, 2010 - Daily Star - Hizbullah to sue magazine for Hariri killing claims - reports

By Patrick Galey and Carol Rizk

BEIRUT: Hizbullah has commenced legal proceedings against a German magazine which claimed the party was behind the killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri, according to media reports this week.


Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, quoting Hizbullah legal representatives, reported Tuesday that they had asked authorities to bring lawsuits against Der Spiegel and the journalists who worked on the publication’s report which implicated Hizbullah members in Hariri’s assassination and claimed it represented a state within a state.


“The article published in Der Spiegel clearly accuses Hizbullah of assassinating Rafik Hariri and this is a crime punishable by death according to the Lebanese penal code,” Al- Akhbar quoted a Hizbullah lawyer as saying.


The legal source said that witnesses from the UN’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) – the international court established to try Hariri’s killers – should be made to testify, as Der Spiegel’s report was based on information leaked from tribunal sources.


The report, according to lawyers, was “a crime of slander and an insult to Hizbullah,” and consisted of “fabricating false facts based on the defendants’ imagination.”


The STL itself was guilty of “a blatant defiance of the international justice that was hoped for, whether the leaked information is revealed to be true of false,” the legal source added.


Five-time Premier Hariri was killed along with 22 others when a car bomb obliterated his motorcade as it made its way along Beirut’s seafront on in 2005. Blame for the attack has been laid by many at Syria’s door, although Syria has repeatedly denied any involvement.



The STL has yet to bring charges against any individual.


Al-Akhbar quoted Hizbullah’s legal source as calling for the STL to remain vigilant in safeguarding against “similar slander from suspected media outlets aiming at creating internal divide in the country.”


The source added that STL prosecutors possessed large amounts of evidence that could prevent future allegations from being speculated upon.


Also Wednesday, the STL’s press office denied Lebanese media reports that the legal assistant of Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare had resigned from his post early this month.


As-Safir reported that Bernard Cote had quit the tribunal for unspecified reasons.


But STL spokesperson Fatima Al Issawi told The Daily Star that Cote had in fact retired. “[Cote] had reached an age where he felt it was the time to return to Canada to be with his family,” she said. “He had discussed the matter with the prosecutor several months ago.”


As-Safir claimed Cote’s departure took place in secrecy, an assertion which Issawi refuted. “There is nothing secret concerning his departure. The vacancy announcement had been on the website for several weeks,” she said. “The staffing process to replace him is well advanced and should be completed in the next few weeks.”


The STL has suffered high-profile resignations since its inception, including Bellemare’s spokesperson Radhia Ashouri and Nick Kaldas, head of investigations for the Office of the Prosecutor until January 2010.