Report: STL May Summon Hizbullah MP as it Seeks to Add 6th Suspect in Amended Indictment
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is working on an amended indictment that will include the name of a sixth suspect in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.
In addition, the STL Prosecution may summon a lawmaker from Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc as a suspect to give his testimony before the court.
Investigations reportedly revealed that the MP's telephone number was among those contacted by one of the suspects, added the daily.
Political testimonies in the trial are scheduled to resume on January 8.
A number of politicians are expected to appear before the court, including head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, former MPs Ghattas Khoury, Bassem al-Sabaa, and Salim Diab.
This phase of the trial is expected to take up the first half of 2015 and it will then be followed by the Defense's cross-examination of the suspects.
The STL kicked off its proceeding in January 2014.
A number of witnesses have given their testimonies before the trial, the latest being MP Marwan Hamadeh, who gave his account of the political atmosphere in Lebanon prior to Hariri's assassination.
He also spoke at length about the slain premier's ties with the Syrian regime and Hizbullah.
Five Hizbullah members have been indicted in the 2005 assassination.
They remain at large despite the efforts of the Lebanese authorities to apprehend them.
Party leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has denounced the STL as an American-Israeli product aimed at destroying the group, vowing that the suspects will never be found.
The accused will be tried in absentia.
M.T.
D.A.
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