REPORT: STL spokesman Marten Youssef to LBCI: Suspects will be tried in absentia

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef told LBCI on Wednesday that suspects involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will be tried in absentia.

He also noted that the Lebanese authorities must submit a monthly report over the deployed efforts to arrest the fugitives.

Youssef stressed that the prosecution will submit 500 witnesses, adding that families of the victims will be present in the courtroom as well as more than 200 journalists and diplomatic figures.

On 14 February 2005, Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, was assassinated, along with 21 others, when explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms of TNT were detonated  near the St. George Hotel in Beirut.

The explosion claimed the life of Rafik Hariri as well as several of his bodyguards and his friend and former Minister of the Economy Bassel Fleihan.



To watch Bassam Abou Zeid's report, please click on the video above.