Bellemare Reportedly Referred New Indictment to Fransen
Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare referred a new indictment to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen in the attacks on the three Lebanese officials that have been linked to ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.
Sources close to the prosecutor’s office told the daily that Bellemare referred to Fransen in the past few days the new indictment in the assassination attempts of MP Marwan Hamadeh, ex-Defense Minister Elias Murr, and the murder of former Communist party leader George Hawi.
Media reports had said that Bellemare was expected to issue a new indictment before he leaves his post in March. His successor has not yet been named.
The sources didn’t disclose the content of the indictment, hinting that it might include a fifth suspect linked to Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.
STL spokesman Marten Youssef said during an interview with An Nahar newspaper this month that Bellemare can follow two ways to refer an indictment to Fransen: either discreetly, or he can refer it without revealing its context (to the public).
Eight lawyers have been selected to represent four Hizbullah members due to be tried in absentia for Hariri’s assassination.
Each of the four defendants will have a counsel and co-counsel who "are fully independent and can choose any strategy they see best fit to defend the rights of the accused,” the court has said.
The Hague-based tribunal indicted Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra and sent arrest warrants for them to Lebanese authorities in June last year.
But the authorities in Lebanon have so far failed to arrest them.
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