Revealing Names of Suspects in Hariri Case ‘Routine Procedure’

Revealing the names of the suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is part of a routine procedure aimed at exhausting all methods to inform the public about suspects, explained legal sources to the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday.

This way, the public is given the opportunity to report any sighting of the suspects, they added.

The release of their names, photos, and biographies is a practice adopted by Anglo-Saxon trials, noting the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence is based on several Lebanese and Anglo-Saxon laws, said the sources.

The release of the names is part of the STL’s normal course of action and it is a sign that it is following through with its procedures, they noted.

In the suitable circumstances, the STL will gradually reveal all that the investigation has discovered, the legal sources stated.

Furthermore, the Lebanese judiciary does not have any additional duties in light of the release of the names of suspects seeing as General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza already has the details of the indictment and accompanying arrest warrants, they remarked.

The STL issued the first phase of its indictment in June.

It was accompanied by arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members suspected of being involved in Hariri’s 2005 assassination.