UN confirms 'criminal network' carried out Hariri assassination

by **Admin** Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:16 am

A UN investigation commission said on Friday that a "criminal network" had carried out the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and was connected to other acts of political violence in Lebanon, but the commission's report did not name anyone involved with the network.

"The commission can now confirm, on the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafik Hariri and that this criminal network - the 'Hariri Network' - or parts thereof are linked to some of the other cases within the commission's mandate," said the 10th report issued by the International Independent Investigation Commission.

The names of suspects, however, "will only appear in future indictments," and Friday's report gave no hint of when an indictment would be made.

Hariri's February 14, 2005, killing led to the exit of Syrian troops from Lebanon after 29 years, and the prospective UN tribunal to try his killers ranks as one of the key issues creating the chasm between Lebanon's anti-Syrian March 14 and Syrian-backed March 8 political camps. March 14 figures have long blamed Damascus for Hariri's killing and for the string of assassinations and attempts since, while the Syrian regime has denied any role and has said it will not allow its citizens to appear before the tribunal.

Friday's report said Syria "has provided generally satisfactory cooperation" with the commission, headed since January 1 by Canada's Daniel Bellemare, who will also become the prosecutor of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The commission's first chief, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, had implicated the Syrian regime in the Hariri crime, but Bellemare's first report adopted the more careful style adopted by Mehlis' successor, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz.

Bellemare said the commission would continue to dig into the nature of the "Hariri Network" and pursue further DNA testing to identify the suicide bomber believed to have set off the truck bomb with an estimated 1,000 kilograms of high explosive in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others.

The network behind the attack existed before Hariri's killing, conducted surveillance of the five-time prime minister, was "operative" on the day of his killing and has persisted in operating since the assassination, Bellemare's report said.

The investigation's next steps will be to gather evidence about the members of the network, their links out side the network and their roles in later attacks. The commission is investigating 20 incidents, 11 targeting politicians, security officials and journalists, as well as nine bomb explosions in public places, the report added.

The commission is also looking into the recent assassinations of Lebanese Armed Forces operations head General Francois al-Hajj and terrorism investigator and Internal Security Forces Major Wissam Eid.

Bellemare also noted the wobbly security environment in Lebanon, and he added that the commission had taken up six new cases since November 2006 without new resources to tackle the growing assignment.

"The number of investigators and analysts continues to be far lower than in comparable investigations," he said.

The nascent tribunal, meanwhile, has received more than $60.3 million in funding, including $34.4 in donations and $25.9 million in pledges, UN Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel said on Friday.

The money covers the budget of the first year of the tribunal, to be located in a former Dutch intelligence building in The Hague, although Michel said the UN had not set a date for the tribunal to begin working officially.

In addition to the money, Michel has long said that sufficient headway by the commission and consultations with the Lebanese government would have to precede the tribunal going to work.

The UN has selected judges for the tribunal but will not release their names out of security concerns, Michel said during a teleconference with Beirut journalists on Friday. Tribunal registrar Robin Vincent, a citizen of the United Kingdom, would take office sometime before this summer, an event Michel said was a "important sign" on the path to establishing the tribunal. The UN is still seeking someone to head the defense office, he added.

The UN, however, will not have jurisdiction over those the tribunal indicts, meaning that the nations where the indicted reside will be responsible for arresting and handing them over to the tribunal.

Michel said that he expected all UN member states to follow any indictment, as the tribunal would only indict someone with a wealth of evidence.

"It will be very difficult for a third country not to transfer this individual to the tribunal," Michel said.

Lebanon continues to detain the four generals who headed the nation's main security services at the time of Hariri's assassination, although the generals' lawyers have lately increased their calls for the release of the men.