Naharnet

STL Prosecutor Says New Details on Evidence to Emerge During Trial

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Norman Farrell has hinted that new sorts of evidence will appear during the trial of four Hizbullah members in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination case next week.

In an interview with An Nahar daily published on Saturday, Farrell said the details of the evidence will be made public during the opening of the trial next Thursday.

“You will hear more details and you will know that the evidence of telecommunications is not circumstantial,” he said.

Four Hizbullah members - Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra - will be tried in absentia for the suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on the Beirut seafront on Feb. 2005.

A fifth wanted suspect, Hassan Habib Merhi, was indicted in October after a pre-trial judge confirmed that he was accused of being involved in the attack.

The STL issued warrants against the four suspects in June 2011, and Interpol has issued a "red notice" for them but none has been arrested so far.

The 2011 indictment against them said the case is built in large part on circumstantial evidence.

It identified five networks of telephones used in the buildup to Hariri's assassination, and set out a detailed account of the days and hours leading to the detonation of 2.5 tons of explosives by a suicide bomber in a Mitsubishi van.

Farrell rejected doubts raised on the evidence, saying there were repeated moves and monitoring by the same people for 50 days.

The Prosecutor reiterated that the indictment of Hizbullah members did not mean that the party was accused of involvement in Hariri's assassination.


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