April 2, 2009 - Daily Star - Tribunal seeks full handover of Hariri case

BEIRUT: The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced on Wednesday that it had asked Lebanon to hand over the case involving the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A tribunal judge's decision, dated March 27 and made public Wednesday, asked Lebanese authorities to hand over the case to the UN court.
Local media reports on Wednesday said the request was made by Belgian pre-trial magistrate Daniel Fransen in a letter sent on Monday to Lebanon's ambassador to the Netherlands Zaidan Assaghir.
The reports added that Fransen has asked the Lebanese judiciary to hand over to the tribunal's General Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare all documents and reports relating to the case.
The request also calls on Lebanese authorities to hand over the list of detainees in connection with the 2005 assassination of Hariri.
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, however, told the local An-Nahar newspaper in comments published on Wednesday that he had not officially received the request.
Najjar explained that in light of the court's request, the international tribunal will have "exclusive jurisdiction" over the detainees, including the four generals held since 2005 in connection with Hariri's murder. Lebanon faces a 14-day deadline to meet the demands after official receipt of the request.