STL Pre-Trial judge requests Trial Chamber to decide on proceedings in absentia

The proceedings in absentia are still valid for the politicized international tribunal, claiming to seek the truth in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

According to a statement released Monday by the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has asked the Trial Chamber to determine whether proceedings in absentia should be initiated.

“The Tribunal’s rules state that if the accused have not been arrested within 30 calendar days of the public advertisement of an indictment, then the pre-trial judge can request that the Trial Chamber initiate proceedings in absentia,” it continued.

“According to the pre-trial judge’s ruling, this period of public advertisement started at the latest on September 15, 2011, when a wanted poster displaying the pictures of the accused, their personal details and the counts against them were published in major Lebanese newspapers,” the statement read.

“The Trial Chamber will now have to determine whether the required conditions have been met in order to start the proceedings in absentia whilst preserving the rights of the accused,” it concluded.

In July, the STL investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri released its so-called indictment along with arrest warrants against four innocent people, which prove that the tribunal was politicized.