April 17, 2009 - Naharnet - Françoin Gives Bellemare Till April 27 to Justify Detention of Suspects or Order their Release

The pre-trial magistrate in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has officially asked the public prosecutor to reach a decision by April 27 on the fate of suspects in the murder case of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. "Pre-trial judge Daniel Françoin 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. Among the detainees are four Lebanese generals who have been held without trial for years in connection with the 2005 assassination. Françoin underlined the need to "safeguard" the basic right of suspects and prisoners "to promptly appear before a judge to settle their case" as guaranteed by international human rights charters. "The Hariri case raises several terrorism-related challenges. Judicial records in the case are especially complicated and the documents are massive," he added. A defense attorney representing the four generals told As Safir daily on Thursday that a decision to release his clients has already been taken. He said he expected the defendants to be released before Monday. But Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar earlier told Future News TV the STL had not reached a decision on the fate of the generals, the local press reported Thursday. "The head of the STL's defense office did not issue any statements to the press regarding the four generals," Najjar said. "What we have read in the papers today came out of the defense attorneys," he stressed. Meanwhile, a delegation from the international tribunal visited the generals on Thursday at Roumieh prison. 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, who remain in jail pending a decision on their fate by the STL.(Naharnet-AFP)