REPORT: Former PM Hariri from The Hague: We call for justice not revenge

"Our response to violence should not be with more violence, but through commitment to human rights," former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Thursday.     

"We have always been calling for justice not revenge," Hariri said, noting that his presence at The Hague proves it.     

The trial in absentia of the four suspects accused of killing Lebanese statesman Rafiq Hariri opened in The Hague on Thursday, nine years after the bomb attack in which the former prime minister and 21 others died.     

"The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has started and attempts to hurdle its work will not pay off," Hariri said after the trial's opening in The Hague.       

The former premier stressed that the STL has “opened the first pages of real justice” and will pave the way to end crimes.      

Hariri praised the Lebanese authorities' role in cooperating with the STL, and thanked the United Nations as well as all countries which have funded the tribunal.


To watch the full report, please click on the video above.