Sources Monitoring STL: Indictment to be Released in Two Weeks

Sources monitoring the Special Tribunal for Lebanon expected on Friday that the indictment in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will be issued in two weeks.

They told the Central News Agency that 70 days are available for approving the indictment, meaning that the indictment may be revealed at the end of March at the latest.

STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare had recently announced that he adopted the Lebanese law in devising the indictment, but the sources said that should pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen adopt international law, then he will return the indictment to the prosecutor so he can review it based on international law.

The sources explained that the accused will receive the indictment through the Lebanese state and if contacting them through normal procedures fails, then they will be informed though the media.

Once the announcement is made, then arrest warrants will be issued against them and delivered to Interpol, they added.

Lebanon and all the countries in the world are obligated to cooperate with the indictment and hand over the suspects because the STL was approved under chapter 7 of the U.N. Security Council, which grants it the right to resort to military means against any country that refuses to cooperate with it, including imposing a land and sea blockade against it, they stressed.