UN chief closes tribunal founded to investigate 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister
ABC News
A U.N. spokesperson says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
BEIRUT -- U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the U.N. chief's spokesperson said Sunday.
Over the years, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon held in absentia proceedings and found three members of the militant Hezbollah group guilty in connection with Hariri's death in a massive Feb. 14, 2005 truck bombing.
The tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, sentenced the three — Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi - to five concurrent sentences of life imprisonment.
Hezbollah officials have repeatedly denied that members of the group were involved in the suicide attack and refused to deal with the tribunal. The bombing killed Hariri and 21 others, and wounded 226.
The trial judges had said there was no evidence Hezbollah’s leadership or Syria were involved in the attack but noted the assassination happened as Hariri and his political allies were discussing whether to call for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.
