STL Informs Murr, Hamadeh that their Assassination Attempts are Linked to Hawi’s and Hariri’s
Former Defense Minister Elias Murr announced on Thursday that a detailed indictment in the investigation into his attempted assassination will be released soon, reported LBC television.
He made his statements after holding talks with a delegation from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon delegation and General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, which he described as “a secret meeting.”
He added that what he heard from them “was unfortunate for Lebanon.”
Murr later told LBC that the STL delegation revealed to him the identity of the sides who executed his assassination attempt.
Mirza and the joint U.N. and international investigators commission then held talks with former minister Marwan Hamadeh, who was also a victim of an assassination attempt in 2004.
He said after the meeting that he was satisfied with the progress achieved by the investigation, adding that the tribunal will “inevitably” be established.
"We were summoned to the prosecutor general's office in Beirut and were told by the STL team that the probe had moved forward and that there will be an announcement shortly concerning our cases," said Hamadeh.
"The information we were given is troubling because it reveals the magnitude of the conspiracy," Hamadeh said, refusing to elaborate.
Mirza and STL delegation later met with ex-LBCI anchorwoman May Chidiac, who was a victim of an assassination attempt.
She said after the talks: “Revelations will soon be made in Hamadeh and Murr’s cases and a third one, which I cannot disclose.”
It was later reported that this third case is that of the assassination of former Communist Party leader, George Hawi and that the STL trial will address the Hariri and Hawi assassinations and Hamadeh and Murr attempted murders, all four of which are connected.
The Justice Palace meetings are aimed at informing them that the suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder are also involved in their assassination attempts, media reports said
If the information is relayed to them, the Lebanese judiciary will take its hands off the files of the three victims and join them to the investigation carried out by the STL in Hariri’s murder, An Nahar daily said on Thursday.
The court’s spokesman has said that it can’t be said that Lebanese authorities have done enough to cooperate with it or finance it.
Lebanese authorities had until August 11 to report on progress made in arresting four men wanted in connection with the massive car bomb explosion in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others.
The tribunal said it had been told by Mirza on Tuesday that none of the Hizbullah members it had identified as suspects has been arrested.
According to al-Liwaa daily, the STL would give Lebanese authorities another month to find the suspects or Pre-trial Judge Daniel Fransen could publish the indictment on the court’s website.
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