Retired British Officer Testifies at STL on Mitsubishi Items Found in Seabed
A retired British police officer testified at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on Friday on the operations that took place to recover pieces from the seabed in the vicinity of the area where ex-Premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated on Feb. 14, 2005.
Witness Malcolm Wilson, who used to work in the anti-terror unit of British police, briefed the court on a report he had written on the search of identified open sea area, swimming pool, and marina surrounding the St. Georges Yacht Club.
The search, he said, was carried out by two British divers and a group of Lebanese divers, most of them volunteers.
Wilson said among the items recovered at the time was part of a vehicle that had a Mitsubishi logo.
The witness searched among many items displayed in the courtroom the alleged part of the Mitsubishi found in the sea.
But after a thorough inspection, he implied that the logo disappeared following corrosion and rust.
A photograph taken at the time was shown to the court but no Mitsubishi sign was visible.
The witness said among the recovered items was part of a vehicle hubcap found in the sea in later days. The prosecution claims it belongs to the Mitsubishi.
Wilson told the court that divers even dived in the ladies swimming pool in the area because it was filled with seawater.
He said all items found in the seabed were handed to the U.N. team investigating Hariri's murder before the establishment of the STL.
The prosecution claims that Hariri's motorcade was targeted by a suicide bomber driving a white Mitsubishi van. But the defense of four Hizbullah suspects, who are being tried in absentia in the case, says that the possibility of an underground explosion is being ignored.
After further examination of pieces taken from the seabed, it was determined that they indeed belong to a Mitsubishi vehicle.
The STL session was adjourned to 11 a.m. Beirut time on Monday when two Prosecution witnesses are scheduled to give their testimonies.
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