STL Sets Deadline for Challenging Tribunal's Jurisdiction

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has set a timeline for the submission of preliminary motions challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal, announced the STL in a statement on Monday.

“In order to ensure the preparation of a fair and expeditious trial, Fransen convened a status conference on April 12, 2012,” it said.

“He decided that any preliminary motions challenging the tribunal's jurisdiction must be filed by May 4, 2012,” added the statement

The deadline to submit other preliminary motions will be decided in due course.

The tribunal is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In an indictment unsealed in August 2011, it accused four Hizbullah members of being involved in the crime, calling on Lebanese authorities to apprehend them.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he doubted the four indictees will ever be found and has branded the tribunal a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy aimed at bringing down the party.

Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra are wanted for the February 2005 suicide car bomb attack in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others, including the suicide bomber.

Ayyash and Badreddine face five charges including that of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide, while Oneissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.