Aoun Says Security Council 'Imposed' STL on Lebanon

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Sunday described as “unconstitutional” the agreement signed in 2007 between Lebanon and the U.N. on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, noting that the STL was “imposed” by the U.N. Security Council.

In an interview with Hizbullah’s mouthpiece Al-Manar television, Aoun said: “There is no treaty, the agreement reached was a U.N. Security Council resolution that had unilaterally imposed the tribunal” on Lebanon.

“The parliament was bypassed, because even if the president signs it would not come into force without the parliament’s approval,” Aoun noted.

“The whole text of Article 52 of the Constitution is not being respected … and Lebanon is not obliged to finance” the U.N.-backed STL, he went on to say.

Lebanon is responsible for meeting 49 percent of the costs of the STL, which has indicted four Hizbullah members in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.

But the Hizbullah-led government has yet to pay its share, estimated at $35 million for 2011, as international pressure mounts on Prime Minister Najib Miqati to uphold his avowed commitment to the STL.

Miqati in recent weeks has received a series of notifications from the court on the overdue funds.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has openly opposed Lebanon paying its annual share to the Netherlands-based STL.

Nasrallah has dismissed the court as a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy against his party, warning that no member of Hizbullah would ever be found or arrested.