June 29, 2009 - Daily Star - Justice minister signs MoU with international tribunal

Agreement obliges Beirut to cooperate with UN court

By Nicholas Kimbrell

BEIRUT: The special UN tribunal probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Lebanese government earlier this month, the court's communications office announced over the weekend. The long-awaited agreement formalizes the conditions of cooperation between Lebanon and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as stipulated by UN Security Council Resolution 1757, which established the court's mandate.
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar and the STL's Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare signed the agreement in Beirut on June 5. Bellemare's office issued a statement officially announcing and outlining the agreement late Friday.
"The MoU is an operational instrument that records the understanding of the parties on how they intend to implement the existing legal obligations stipulated in the Annex to Resolution 1757 [2007] and the Statute of the STL," the statement said. "The MoU spells out the details of the assistance necessary to the fulfillment of the Office of the Prosecutor's mandate, including the conduct of the investigation."
Among other commitments, the MoU obliges the Lebanese government to cooperate with the prosecutor general's office by facilitating its work where possible, preventing interference and providing a Beirut office for the prosecutor.
The STL's outgoing registrar, Robin Vincent, signed an agreement on the establishment of such an office with Najjar on June 19.
For months, the MoU had been held up over concerns from the Hizbullah-led opposition that that the agreement, which binds the Lebanese government to a strict compliance with the STL's mandate, could infringe on Lebanon's sovereignty.
Hariri, a self-made billionaire and five-time former premier, was killed along with 22 others when a truck bomb tore through his convoy in Beirut's waterfront Ain al-Mreisse district on February 14, 2005. His murder, the first in a series of assassinations targeting mostly anti-Syrian political figures and security officers, sent waves through the region triggering massive demonstrations in Beirut and precipitating a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon after a nearly 30-year military presence.
Pursuant with UN resolution 1595, an independent investigation commission was established in 2005 to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of Hariri's murder. The investigative commission's mandate ended on February 28 of this year, and the STL officially opened in The Hague on March 1.
The tribunal is headed by Judge Antonia Cassese. Earlier this month it was announced that Lebanese Judge Ralph Riachy was unanimously nominated as the STL's deputy president; he is one of four Lebanese judges serving on the tribunal.
Although the court has been operational for months, no suspects have been named and no indictments have been handed down. Four former Lebanese generals held in custody in relation to the Hariri murder since 2005 were released in April.
Syria has been widely blamed for having a hand in the assassination, but Damascus has repeatedly denied allegations of involvement.