Indictment Released: Badreddine Controlled, Ayyash Coordinated, while Oneissi, Sabra Conspired
Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen ordered on Wednesday that his decision confirming the indictment related to the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as well as the indictment itself, be made public, said the STL in a press release.
“In his decision confirming the indictment, the Pre-Trial Judge found that the Prosecution has presented sufficient evidence on a prima facie basis to proceed to trial,” it stated.
“This does not imply that the individuals are guilty, but merely establishes that there is enough material for them to be tried,” it stressed.
“The Prosecution will have to prove at trial that the accused are guilty ‘beyond reasonable doubt’,” it explained.
“The Pre-Trial Judge found that the indictment meets the requirements with regard to the specific facts and grounds as required under international case law, the Statute and the Rules (of Procedure and Evidence),” said the STL.
“In the ruling the Pre-Trial Judge first established his jurisdiction to rule on the indictment. He also clarified the law applicable to the charges against the accused and then determined if the indictment meets the requirements to proceed to trial,” it continued.
“In the decision, the Pre-Trial Judge also explained why, until now, the indictment was confidential, which is to ‘ensure the integrity of the judicial procedure and, in particular, ensure that the search and, where appropriate, apprehension of the accused are carried out effectively’,” said the statement.
There are small parts of the decision and the indictment, as well as sections of its annexes, which remain confidential, it added.
They relate to matters that could affect the ongoing Prosecution investigation, as well as the privacy and security of victims and witnesses, it stated.
For the convenience of the public, the Office of the Prosecutor has prepared the following brief overview of the indictment:
The indictment alone is the authoritative charging instrument.
The Indictment charges the four following accused persons for their individual criminal responsibility in the attack against Rafik Hariri:
-Salim Jamil Ayyash
-Mustafa Amine Badreddine (aka Sami Issa, Mustafa Youssef Badreddine, Elias Fouad Saab)
-Hussein Hassan Oneissi (aka Hussein Hassan Issa)
-Assad Hassan Sabra.
The evidence filed with the indictment (known as supporting material and comprising more than 20,000 pages) corroborates the following factual allegations and charges included in the indictment.
On the morning of February 14, 2005, Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, departed his residence at Qoraitem Palace in Beirut to attend a session of parliament. As usual, he travelled in a convoy. An assassination team consisting of Ayyash and others positioned themselves in several locations where they were able to track and observe Hariri’s convoy. They had done such tracking of Hariri on previous days in preparation for the attack.
Before 11:00 am that day, Hariri arrived at parliament. Shortly before 12:00 pm, Hariri left parliament to go to Café Place de l’Étoile, located nearby, where he stayed for approximately 45 minutes, before leaving to go back to his residence. At 12:49 pm, Hariri entered his vehicle accompanied by MP Bassel Fuleihan and the convoy then departed the Place de l’Étoile. Hariri and his security detail in a six-vehicle convoy started to drive back to Qoraitem Palace via a coastal route, including Rue Minet al-Hosn. At 12:52 pm, a Mitsubishi Canter van moved very slowly towards the St. Georges Hotel, located on Rue Minet el Hosn. Approximately two minutes ahead of the convoy, the Mitsubishi Canter van moved towards its final position on Rue Minet al-Hosn. At 12:55 pm, as Hariri’s convoy passed the St. Georges Hotel, a male suicide bomber detonated a large quantity of explosives concealed in the cargo area of the Mitsubishi Canter van, killing Hariri and 21 other victims and injuring 231 persons.
Shortly after the explosion, Oneissi and Sabra, acting together, called Reuters and Al-Jazeera in Beirut. Then Sabra called Al-Jazeera again and gave information on where to find a videotape that had been placed in a tree at ESCWA Square in Beirut. The videotape was recovered together with a letter. In the video, which was later broadcast on television, a man named Ahmed Abu Adass falsely claimed to be the suicide bomber on behalf of a fictitious fundamentalist group using the name “Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria”.
As a result of the investigation which followed this attack, a significant amount of evidence was gathered, including witness statements, documentary evidence and electronic evidence (such as closed circuit television and telephone call data records). The evidence has led to the identification of some of the persons responsible for the attack on Hariri. Analysis of the call data records, for example, has revealed the users of a number of interconnected mobile phone networks involved in the assassination of Hariri. Each network consisted of a group of phones, usually registered under false names, whose users had a high frequency of contact with each other.
The Indictment charges all four accused with Conspiracy aimed at committing a Terrorist Act, as co-perpetrators (Count 1). Ayyash and Badreddine are charged (in Counts 2 to 5) with Committing a Terrorist Act by means of an explosive device, Intentional Homicide (of Hariri and the 21 other victims) with premeditation by using explosive materials, and Attempted Intentional Homicide (of those that survived but were injured) with premeditation by using explosive materials. Oneissi and Sabra are charged as being accomplices to the commission of the others’ offences (Counts 6 to 9). All charges in the Indictment are crimes under Lebanese criminal law.
The roles that the accused played in the attack were as follows. Badreddine served as the overall controller of the attack. Ayyash coordinated the assassination team that was responsible for the physical perpetration of the attack. Oneissi and Sabra, in addition to being conspirators, prepared and delivered the false claim of responsibility video, which sought to blame the wrong people, in order to shield the conspirators from justice.
It will be for the Trial Chamber to reach its own verdict after considering all the evidence at trial.
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