Bellemare Examining Material Handed by Hizbullah to Mirza on July 13
The office of Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is currently examining material hand-delivered by Hizbullah officials to Lebanon’s State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza on July 13, 2011, Bellemare’s office said in a statement Wednesday.
Hizbullah, for its part, issued a statement later on Wednesday in which it confirmed the delivery of the material to Mirza but noted that that happened at the state prosecutor’s “personal request.”
The party stressed that it would only submit material to the Lebanese Judiciary, noting that its stance on the STL is “clear, well-known and final.”
On July 4, Bellemare invited Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to submit information and documents that could assist the tribunal "in its quest for justice."
Nasrallah, in an hour-long televised address on July 2, ruled out the arrest of four Hizbullah suspects, indicted in the investigation into the deaths of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and 22 others in a powerful car bomb blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005.
But Nasrallah claimed to have material including video clips which could assist in the investigation and proposed to send them to the prosecutor.
The statement said Bellemare's office asked for the file on some elements of the investigation Nasrallah offered to provide. It also asked for video material shown during his speech.
"The prosecutor continues to pursue all investigative leads," it added.
On Friday, a tribunal judge confirmed the names of the four wanted Hizbullah men and the charges against them.
Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen ordered confidentiality around the charges against Salim Ayyash, 47, Mustafa Badreddine, 50, Hussein Anaissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34, be dropped.
Badreddine is a brother-in-law of Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated in Damascus in 2008.
Ayyash and Badreddine face among others, charges of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide including Hariri's death, while Anaissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.
Interpol has also issued wanted notices for the men.
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