U.N. seeks Lebanon assassinations tribunal

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (UPI) -- Acting on a request from Lebanon, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is asking the Security Council to set up a political assassinations tribunal for Beirut.

Ban told reporters of the request after his monthly luncheon with the panel of 15 Tuesday.

"After having exhausted all diplomatic efforts by the United Nations, including (those by) myself, and having received an official request from the government of Lebanon asking the Security Council to take necessary action, I think it is necessary," he said.

"I hope the Security Council members will debate on this matter and take necessary action," Ban said. "I am of the view, in my capacity as secretary-general, that as a matter of principle there should be no impunity for the perpetrators of political assassinations. It is important that there should be firm principles respected."

He received a letter from Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora Monday that said "the Lebanese government believes that the time has come for the Security Council to help made the special tribunal for Lebanon a reality.

"We therefore ask you, as a matter or urgency, to put before the Security Council our request," Siniora said in the letter.

The prime minister had been unable to establish a tribunal through the nation's constitutional process because the minority speaker of parliament refused "to convene a session ... to formally ratify statutes and the bilateral agreement with the United Nations" to form the tribunal to try suspects in a series of political assassinations.

The court would hear cases beginning with the bombing in February 2005 that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others. A U.N.-backed investigation has implicated Lebanese and Syrian security forces in the Hariri plot.