The establishment of the Hariri Tribunal

C. Tofan
Pages: 460 pages
Shipping Weight: 700 gram
Published: 02-2011
Publisher: WLP
Language: US
ISBN (hardcover) : 9789058871251
ISBN (softcover) : 9789058871244

Product Description

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is an international criminal court that was established by an Agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese Republic pursuant to Security Council resolution 1664 (2006) of 29 March 2006. The United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations endorsed the agreement on 30 May 2007 (Security Council Resolution 1757 (2007)).

The Security Council agreed that the special tribunal set up to try the suspected killers of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will enter into force on 10 June unless Lebanon ratifies the tribunal itself before that date. The tribunal is mandated to try those suspected of assassinating Rafik Hariri, who was murdered along with 22 others in a bombing in Beirut on February 14,2005. Several human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch have argued that the tribunal should have been given jurisdiction over 14 other attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since October 1, 2004. The tribunal marks the first time that a UN-based international criminal court will be trying a “terrorist” crime committed against a specific person. According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1664 (2006), it is to be a “tribunal of an international character based on the highest international standards of criminal justice.

”The Special Tribunal will be a “hybrid” international court, similar to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, with the important difference, however, that it will not apply international (criminal) law but Lebanese law (Article 2 of the Statute of the Special Tribunal). The chambers will be composed of both Lebanese and international judges with a majority, however, of international judges (Article8 of the Statute of the Special Tribunal).For reasons of security, administrative efficiency and fairness, the tribunal has its seat outside Lebanon, in Leidschendam in The Netherlands. The premises of the tribunal will be the former Algemene Inlichtingen- en VeiligheidsDienst (AIVD) building.

This book contains letters, resolutions, agreements and reports of the United Nations Security Council that led to the establishment of the Hariri Tribunal. The second edition of this book includes new documents on the Hariri Tribunal.