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Mon, Jan 17, 2011 | CNN | Jerusalem Post

UN Special Tribunal Submits Indictment in Hariri’s Assassination

Nearly six years after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has submitted the long-awaited results of an international investigation to Judge Daniel Fransen at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the Tribunal registrar Herman van Hebel said Monday.

The judge, Daniel Fransen, will review the submissions for a period that is expected to last between six to 10 weeks, the tribunal said in a statement. “The contents of the indictment remain confidential at this stage,” the statement said.

Fransen will have options including confirming or dismissing the entire document, requesting additional evidence or confirming some counts and dismissing others, according to the tribunal. Both the prosecutor and the head of the defense office can request the indictment remain confidential.

The indictment, submitted by prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, “marks the beginning of the judicial phase of the Tribunal’s work,” the tribunal’s statement said.

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According to the Hizbullah-aligned television station Al-Manar, “Washington pushed the indictments in order to light the fuse that will blow up the bridges that were built in order to find a solution” after the Lebanese government collapsed last week. “The Americans controlled the indictment in form and content,” Al-Manar reported.

Details of suspects named and the charges against them have not been released. Lebanese news sources reported that the indictments focus on Hizbullah members that planned and executed the assassination. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly been indicted for giving the instructions to kill Hariri in February 2005, AFP reported.

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