Baragwanath Meets Miqati and Suleiman Reiterating Lebanon’s Dues to STL

Premier Najib Miqati promised President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Sir David Baragwanath, on Wednesday to resolve the crisis on the funding of the STL.

Miqati met with Baragwanath at the Grand Serail, reiterating Lebanon’s respect for international resolutions, including 1757. He hoped that the STL would steer clear of politics, a statement issued by the prime minister’s office said.

Miqati also told the court’s president that he was following up the mechanism that would pave way for Lebanon’s "appropriate decision" on the payment of its share to the tribunal within the legal timeframe.

The statement said that the STL president stressed the importance of achieving justice and holding accountable those responsible for ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 14, 2005 assassination.

He also reminded Miqati that 11 months have passed for Lebanon to pay its share of about $33 million dollars, the statement added.

The judge later held talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace and later Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

The judge hoped after meeting the minister that the STL funding would be approved, as pledged by Suleiman and Miqati and in order to avert this issue being referred to the United Nations Security Council.

Baragwanath arrived in Beirut on Tuesday night. He is accompanied by the Vice-President of the Tribunal, Judge Ralph Riachy.

An STL source told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday that the tribunal president will discuss with the Lebanese officials the funding of the court.

He will inform them that he is compelled by the law to inform the U.N. Security Council in writing if Lebanon refuses to pay its 49 percent share of funds, the source said.

He told the newspaper that Baragwanath will also explain to the Lebanese officials the importance of the cooperation with the STL in terms of the arrest of the four Hizbullah suspects.

But the source said that the STL president’s main objective is to stress to the Beirut authorities that the court is working with integrity to find Hariri’s killers.

“Baragwanath will stress to the Lebanese officials that the tribunal’s judges are not agents and not biased,” the sources said, adding that the judges’ objective is to carry out a fair and transparent trial.

The STL president will visit the area where Hariri was killed along with 21 others in a massive blast at the St. George area on Beirut’s seafront, the source told Asharq al-Awsat.

He will also inspect the route that Hariri’s convoy took from parliament all the way to the area where the explosion went off, he said.