LEIDSCHENDAM-VOORBURG, Netherlands, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said it is the only authority tasked with reaching conclusions on the assassination of a Lebanese leader in 2005.
The STL is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It is widely suspected that the tribunal will indict members of Hezbollah before the end of the year, though Hezbollah officials said they have evidence to suggest Israel had a hand in the slaying.
Daniel Bellemare, the chief prosecutor at the STL, said his office was "extremely disappointed" about a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. into the Hariri slaying. He said the report came as the tribunal was working "flat out" to prepare a draft indictment "in the near future."
The CBC last week said it had evidence from Lebanese authorities and "sources from inside" the U.N.-backed STL that said records from mobile telephones were part of the evidence that linked Hezbollah to the case.
German news magazine Der Spiegel published a similar account of Hezbollah's alleged ties to the assassination in a 2009 investigation.
Bellemare warned that the release of the CBC report put lives at risk, adding that "it will be for the judges, and the judges alone, to assess the evidence and reach conclusions based on the facts as established at trial, and the law."
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah dismissed the CBC evidence as groundless.
