LEBANON: HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS TEAM INVESTIGATING ASSASSINATION OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER RAFIK HARIRI CALL FOR SYRIAN COOPERATION

Record ID: 338137

  • Title: LEBANON: HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS TEAM INVESTIGATING ASSASSINATION OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER RAFIK HARIRI CALL FOR SYRIAN COOPERATION
  • Date: 7th October 2005
  • Summary: (W3) BROUMANNA, LEBANON (SEPTEMBER 1, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. JOURNALISTS AT PRINTANIA HOTEL IN BROUMANA, EAST BEIRUT 2. PHOTOGRAPHERS 3. HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATORS DETLIV MEHLIS ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE 4. MEHLIS AND UN SPOKESMAN IN BEIRUT, NEJIB FRIJI 5. MEHLIS AND FRIJI 6. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BROUMANNA, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVAB50VHU67CMCXIUS1Q86VILRQL
  • Story Text: Head of U.N. team investigating Hariri's assassination calls for Syrian cooperation.


    A United Nations (U.N.( team has made major progress
    in its inquiry into the killing of a former Lebanese prime
    minister, but will need an extension of its three-month
    mandate, its chief said on Thursday (September 1, 2005).

    Chief investigator Detlev Mehlis said he had
    recommended to the Lebanese authorities that they issue
    arrest warrants for four pro-Syrian generals already in
    detention as suspects in the February assassination of
    Rafik al-Hariri.

    Although in custody, the generals are not formally
    under arrest. Arresting the four security chiefs would be
    the first step towards bringing charges against them.

    His team has questioned over 250 people in connection
    with the case, including at least five suspects -- the four
    generals and a former lawmaker close to Damascus who was
    later freed.

    "Up until now as you know the commission has
    identified five suspects, they have been extensively
    interviewed. Both the commission and the Lebanese judiciary
    ****(some text missing)****
    the meantime the presumption of innocence stands and the
    rights of the suspects are fully preserved. Therefore it is
    fair to say that the case is not closed and we still invite
    anyone inside and outside of Lebanon who may have
    information on this assassination to report it to us, to
    report it to the commission. We will provide security to
    witnesses and suspects who will need it." Mehlis told
    journalists at a news conference in Broumanna.

    Many Lebanese blame Syria, which had controlled Lebanon
    since the 1975-1990 civil war, for the killing that plunged
    the country into months of turmoil.

    Damascus ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon
    in April amid world pressure and Lebanese street protests
    after the killing of Hariri and 20 others by a huge bomb in
    Beirut.

    Mehlis said he was confident Syria, which the United
    Nations has criticised for not cooperating fully with the
    probe, would eventually let him interview Syrian security
    officials.

    "I am optimistic that these problems can be solved
    because they will have to be solved, because without this
    cooperation (Syrian) we will not have the full picture so I
    am optimistic on this because I also read the interview of
    President Assad and I am really willing to go to Syria but
    I did not go so far." he said.

    Ex-MP Nassir Qandil was freed on Wednesday (August 31),
    but Mehlis said he was still a suspect.

    "We think and that is why they are suspects they were
    to some part, to some extent, part of the planning which
    led to the assassination." Mehlis said.

    The Security Council ordered the inquiry into Hariri's
    killing after a fact-finding mission found Lebanon
    incapable of carrying out a credible investigation into the
    attack that plunged Lebanon into its worst crisis since the
    civil war.


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