STL to announce verdicts against Merhi and Oneissi on June 16

The Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has issued a scheduling order for the pronouncement of the Sentencing Judgment in the case of Prosecutor v. Merhi and Oneissi in a public session on June 16.

On 18 August 2020, the Trial Chamber pronounced its Judgment in the Ayyash et al. case and unanimously found Hizbullah operative Salim Jamil Ayyash guilty beyond reasonable doubt of all counts charged against him in the amended consolidated indictment.

The Trial Chamber further found Hizbullah operatives Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra not guilty of all counts charged against them. The Prosecution later filed an appeal against the acquittal of Merhi and Oneissi.

On 10 March 2022, the Appeals Chamber issued its Appeal Judgment and unanimously found Merhi and Oneissi guilty beyond reasonable doubt of all counts charged against them in the amended consolidated indictment.

On the same day, the Appeals Chamber issued a scheduling order for submissions on sentencing. Pursuant to the scheduling order, the Prosecution, the LRV, Counsel for Merhi, and Counsel for Mr Oneissi filed written submissions on sentencing.

The Hizbullah operatives are accused of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Merhi and Oneissi have been convicted of five charges linked to the assassination, including conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and being accomplices to intentional homicide.

The unanimous appeals decision said that judges in the original trial verdict "committed errors of law invalidating the Judgment and errors of fact occasioning a miscarriage of justice," the tribunal said in a statement.

Ayyash had been convicted as a co-conspirator on five charges linked to his involvement in the 2005 suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others and wounded 226 people.

Prosecutors said Merhi and Oneissi played "a significant role" in the plot by distributing a video with a false claim of responsibility after the bombing.

"The acts for which they have been convicted were callous and manipulative, designed not only to shield the real perpetrators from justice but to deceive the Lebanese people," Prosecutor Norman Farrell said in a statement.

All the suspects were tried in their absence as they were never arrested.

Farrell said "accountability does not end with their conviction. Merhi and Oneissi, along with their co-conspirator Salim Ayyash remain fugitives. Justice demands that they be arrested."

The tribunal's 2020 verdict was met with anger and disappointment in parts of Lebanon after judges said there was no evidence that Hizbullah's leadership and Syria were involved in the attack, despite saying the assassination happened as Hariri and his political allies were discussing calling for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.