March 14 Hands U.N. Petition Demanding STL Probe All Assassinations

The March 14 forces on Thursday handed the U.N. secretary-general's representative in Lebanon a petition demanding the expansion of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's mandate to cover all assassinations against March 14 figures.

“We handed the U.N. secretary-general's representative in Lebanon a petition signed by 69 MPs and demanding the expansion of the STL's jurisdiction to involve all assassination crimes that targeted Lebanese leaders, from the attempt on MP Marwan Hamadeh's life to the assassination of martyr minister Mohammed Shatah,” al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Atef Majdalani said after a March 14 delegation handed the petition to U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly.

According to Majdalani, the petition was signed by four premiers and former premiers and the parliamentary blocs of al-Mustaqbal, the National Struggle Front, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange Party, and independent MPs.

“The criminals managed to assassinate an elite group of our leaders but they did not and will not manage to evade punishment or break the will of the Lebanese to achieve freedom, independence and decent living,” Majdalani stressed.

March 14's MPs had announced their intent to submit the petition during the February 14 rally that commemorated the ninth anniversary of ex-PM Rafik Hariri's assassination at the BIEL exhibition center in Beirut.

The STL is probing the Feb. 14, 2005 assassination of Hariri and 22 other people in a massive bombing in Beirut's Ain el-Mreisseh area.

The STL's mandate covers Hariri's murder and other attacks that occurred in Lebanon between October 1, 2004 and December 12, 2005.

On December 13, 2005, the Lebanese government asked the United Nations to establish a tribunal of an international character to try all those who are alleged responsible for the attack of February 14, 2005.

Pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1664 (2006), the United Nations and the Lebanese Republic negotiated an agreement on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Further to Security Council Resolution 1757 (2007), the Statute of the Special Tribunal entered into force on June 10, 2007.

The tribunal later established jurisdiction over three attacks relating to MP Marwan Hamadeh, former Lebanese Communist Party chief George Hawi and former defense minister Elias Murr, deeming them of similar nature to Hariri's assassination.

The tribunal’s jurisdiction can be extended beyond the period between February 14, 2005 and December 12, 2005 if the tribunal finds that the attacks in question are connected in accordance with the principles of criminal justice and are of a nature and gravity similar to the Feb. 14 attack.

This connection includes but is not limited to a combination of the following elements: criminal intent (motive), the purpose behind the attacks, the nature of the victims targeted, the pattern of the attacks (modus operandi), and the perpetrators.

Crimes that occurred after December 12, 2005 can be eligible to be included in the tribunal’s jurisdiction under the same criteria if it is so decided by the Lebanese government and the United Nations and with the consent of the Security Council.

On February 11, the STL Trial Chamber approved a request from the Prosecution to join the case against the accused Hassan Habib Merhi to the case against Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Assad Sabra and Hussein Oneissi, whose in absentia trial in the Hariri case had started on January 16 and was later adjourned to May.

The court said the five accused are members of Hizbullah.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has rejected the STL, describing it as an American-Israeli conspiracy against his party. He has vowed never to cooperate with the tribunal, saying that the suspects will never be found.