By Erich Follath SPIEGEL.DE
Proceedings in the case of murdered ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri are set to being in the Netherlands this week. The trial could cause further unrest in a country that is already on the verge of chaos.
Rarely has there been a case like this one. The crime was both dramatic and brutal, the investigation was plagued by shocking errors and surprising twists. And rarely has a criminal case had such geopolitical significance. On Thursday, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will begin hearing the case in an unimposing building in the Dutch town of Leidschendam near The Hague. The outcome is uncertain.
ANZEIGE
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in an attack in Beirut almost nine years ago. Twenty-two bodyguards and passersby also lost their lives in the explosion. Six-and-a-half years ago, the United Nations decided to investigate the murder and established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, also known as the STL. In the intervening years, the tribunal, which is funded by 28 countries, Germany included, has spent more than a quarter-billion dollars in its quest for truth.
Scandals have accompanied the investigation from the very beginning. High-ranking UN deputies have stepped down, for “private reasons.” Others have been duped by dubious witnesses. In Lebanon, there are many who believe the tribunal has a Western bias; in the West, on the other hand, people worry that the UN body has withheld facts that could be uncomfortable for the Arab world.
What everybody seems to agree on, though, is that the case is about neither justice nor revenge. Rather, the STL is setting the course for Lebanon’s future, and possibly for that of the entire Middle East.
Religious Proxy War
The trial in the STL headquarters in Leidschendam is getting underway in the heart of a Middle Eastern minefield, and once again there are many with access to the explosives. Lebanon is currently suffering under a wave of attacks, partly the result of destabilization from the large numbers of refugees flowing into the country from neighboring Syria. At the same time, however, Qaida-affiliated Sunnis have begun challenging violent groups from other confessions in an apparent attempt to have Lebanon join Iraq as a battlefield in the ongoing religious proxy war.
Five men have been charged with murder by UN prosecutors: Mustafa Badr al-Din, Salim Ayyash, Hassan Oneissi, Assad Sabra and Hassan Marhi. All of them are members of the radical Shiite Hezbollah militia.
But it looks as though it could end up being something of a trial of ghosts — the international community vs. phantoms. The court, led by a president from New Zealand, will see a Canadian-led team of prosecutors arguing against a French-led team of defense attorneys. But none of the Lebanese defendants will be in the dock. The trial and the verdict will all take place in abstentia.
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Lebanon