Geagea Says STL Issued 'Quarter Verdict' Due to Difficulties

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday welcomed the verdict issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri while describing it as incomplete.

“The LF supported the STL from the very first moment and that’s why we will accept the verdict issued by it as it is, with all due openness and satisfaction,” Geagea said at a press conference that followed a meeting for the LF-led Strong Republic bloc.

“But honestly, it is a quarter verdict, not because the tribunal does not enjoy the needed competency nor because its officials are questioned nor because it is politicized, but rather due to the circumstances in which this tribunal operated,” the LF leader added.

He cited tampering with the 2005 crime scene by Lebanese authorities, Russian pressure at the U.N. Security Council regarding the tribunal’s statute and restrictions on the movement of international investigators in certain Lebanese regions.

“Prior to the issuance of the court’s verdict, some assumed that it was politicized, but after the issuance of its verdict, the rationale contained in it and the method in which the crime was approached, it evidently turned out that the court is not politicized,” Geagea added.

He also noted that the verdict “confirmed the direct responsibility of one of Hizbullah’s cadres, Salim Ayyash, in the execution of the assassination as well as the participation of dozens of the party’s members in the preparation phase.”