Thursday 30 June 2011

Indictment handed over to Lebanon..Mikati: Accused is innocent until proven guilty

Indictment handed over to Lebanon..Mikati: Accused is innocent until proven guilty
Lebanon General Prosecutor Judge Said Mirza received Thursday 11:00 a.m. STL delegation. Media information revealed that the delegation handed over a copy of the indictment on the assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri to Mirza.
France Press quoted March 14 General Coordinator Fares Soueid saying that “the information we received indicate that a delegation from the international tribunal has handed over the indictment of Hariri’s assassination to General Prosecutor Said Mirza.”
Al-Manar reporter informed that the indictment is consisted of 136 pages and four arrest warrants against Lebanese.
Following the issuance of the long-awaited UN-backed indictment probing the 2005 assassination of statesman Rafik Hariri and the related crimes, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed "the accused is innocent until proven guilty," .
"Today, the indictment was issued accusing members of implication in the crime. This requires a conscious and wary approach. Stability, national unity, civil peace, and truth should be above any other consideration. We are asked to deal with today's event in a responsible and realistic way. The indictment is not a final verdict," he underlined.
Going down in the annals of time, Mikati reminded the Lebanese "6 years ago, Rafik Hariri fell martyr. An earthquake jolted the nation. That dreadful crime had a wide upshot worldwide. His friend Bassel Fleihan also fell martyr...you have all agreed, ever since the massacre, to punish criminals and designers especially that there had been other crimes. The state has coped with the United Nations through the international investigation committee. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was therefore established."
The Prime Minister highlighted the obligation to "look into" the nations' interest, and to curb any bid aiming at targeting the country and turning the indictment into strife, "which we know how it begins, yet we do not know when it ends."
He said "your government pledges to follow up on the stages subsequent to the indictment's issuance, proceed with work and procedures, and interpret the unifying will to proof Lebanon."
"Let us build the future, protect our unity, and prove to those who placed bids on the indictment to divide us, that the unity of the Lebanese shall triumph," he said.
He added that loyalty to the late Rafik Hariri would be through cleaving to truth in order to do justice and preserve national constants which he (Hariri) had always been committed to.
In response to a question, Mikati said "we were very clear in the ministerial policy statement as to respecting international resolutions and the continuity of STL work."
Thursday 30-06-2011

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

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