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."