Report: Badreddine’s Defense Counsel Challenged STL Jurisdiction
The defense team of Hizbullah suspect Mustafa Badreddine challenged the jurisdiction of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon by submitting a preliminary motion, al-Akhbar daily reported Saturday.
The move came on Friday before the May 4 deadline set by Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen to file motions challenging the tribunal's jurisdiction, it said.
According to Badreddine’s defense team, that is led by French-Lebanese lawyer Antoine Qorqmaz, the STL is illegal and that the U.N. Security Council abused its authority by issuing resolution 1757 in 2007 that authorized the formation of the court.
The counsel claimed that the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005, though tragic, it did not “constitute a threat to international peace and security” as claimed by 1757 and accused the Security Council of resorting to chapter 7 of the U.N. charter over the failure of establishing the court through an agreement between Lebanon and the world body.
The team also claimed that the killing of Hariri in a massive car bombing on the Beirut seafront was not in any way linked to international terrorism and quipped that the Security Council didn’t establish such a tribunal even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The council said the STL is not compatible with the mission of the U.N. in spreading peace and security because it is a source of division among Lebanon’s different political and sectarian factions.
It added that the tribunal was established in contravention with the Lebanese constitution and the country’s sovereignty according to international law.
The STL announced earlier this month that it would put Badreddine and three other Hizbullah members on trial in their absence over Hariri’s murder.
Lebanese Labor Minister Salim Jreissati told Radio Orient on Saturday that the defense teams of the four Hizbullah suspects and not just Badreddine filed motions challenging the STL’s jurisdiction.
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