Fransen postpones start of STL trial in Hariri case

STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen postponed the start of trial in the case of Ayyash et al., in a decision issued on Thursday.      

He announced that he will soon set a new tentative date to replace 25 March 2013 as a provisional date for the start of the trial.   

Fransen asked for submissions from OTP [Office of the Prosecutor], Defense, Victims’ Representatives by March 8 on their preparedness for trial; after which he will then set new date.    

Judge Fransen found that certain disclosure obligations had not been met, which the Prosecution recognized.   

He also took note of the ongoing cooperation requests made by the Defense to the Lebanese authorities.      

He found these facts to justify the Defense’s request to postpone the trial date, which would otherwise not give the Defense time to prepare and would be in violation of the most basic right of the accused and the principle of fair trial.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up by the United Nations at the Lebanese government's request to try the alleged perpetrators of the 2005 bombing in which former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others were killed.

The suspects - Mustafa Amine Badreddine, a senior Hezbollah figure and brother-in-law of slain Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyeh, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra - remain at large.


LBCI/REUTERS