Post by Janjoon-Lebanese on Dec 20, 2006 16:42:15 GMT -5
Brammertz Briefs U.N. on his Report
19-12-06
BY: NAHARNET
Chief investigator Serge Brammertz has cited progress in gathering crime scene evidence and probing potential perpetrators in ex-premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.
The commission has made progress in the two main areas of its investigation in the Hariri case - developing crime scene evidence and investigating potential perpetrators," Brammertz said Monday.
Briefing the UN Security Council on his 22-page report, submitted to the U.N. last week, he said his panel "has reached a critical stage" in its probe.
An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday quoted sources from the parliamentary majority as saying that U.N. chief Kofi Annan recommended to the Security Council the extension of Brammertz' mission for another six months.
It said diplomatic sources in New York told some members of the parliamentary majority that Annan asked for an extension until June 15, 2007.
The sources said that Security Council members have a 24-hour time limit to oppose the recommendation or it becomes effective.
Brammertz also said that the panel and Lebanese authorities both "believe that placing information concerning suspects and witnesses in the public domain would make it difficult for sensitive witnesses to step forward and engage with the commission and may be prejudicial to future trials before a tribunal."
The Belgian prosecutor noted that his team's objective was "to collect evidence that will be admissible before a future international tribunal" that is to try suspects in the Hariri murder.
He said that he could not say when his probe would be completed, noting that "an investigation of this complexity takes time."
The U.N. report, the sixth to look into the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on the Beirut seafront, sought to establish the geographic origin of the suspected bomber, an unidentified male whose "complete tooth and other biological parts found on the crime scene" are being analyzed by experts.
The first phase of analysis showed that "the individual did not spend his youth in Lebanon, but was situated in the country in the last two to three months before his death, the report said.
"The report discusses the type of area in which the individual lived during the last 10 years or so of his life, although at this stage no specific region can as yet be derived from the analysis," the panel said.
The inquiry commission said it "will continue to request Syria's full cooperation, which remains crucial to the swift and successful completion of its work."
Brammertz's German predecessor Detlev Mehlis had implicated in the Hariri slaying senior officials from Syria, which for decades was the power broker in Lebanon. Damascus strongly denies any connection with Hariri's slaying.
Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Jaafari on Monday noted that the Brammertz report "clearly shows that Syria's cooperation has been satisfactory and has come in a timely way."
While pledging continued Syrian cooperation, he warned, "the greatest risk facing this investigation is that some parties in our region and beyond ... are exploiting this investigation in order to reach politicized conclusions which have no relationship whatsoever with the requirement of an investigation and which are not based on any proof."
Brammertz said that since last September 15, 10 new formal requests for help had been sent to five states other than Syria, bringing the total number of such requests to roughly 60 since March.
He said that while most states had responded positively, "the lack of responsiveness by certain (unnamed states) has impeded or slowed down the work of the commission on several fronts."
The Belgian prosecutor meanwhile said that a final report by outside experts endorsed his panel's assumptions that the Hariri attack consisted of only one blast of an RDX-based high explosive used in military and industrial application.
He also pointed to a considerable number of links between the Hariri case and six of 14 other attacks against anti-Syrian Lebanese personalities or entities.
He said further analysis will be done in the next three months "to develop these links."
Similarly, the commission will continue to help Lebanese authorities investigate the Nov. 21 assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel - an event that pushed lingering political tensions in the country to a new crisis point.
It is the preliminary assessment of the commission that minister Gemayel was the subject of surveillance as part of a planned assassination operation against him," Brammertz said, adding that 250 exhibits from the crime scene have been sent to a laboratory for forensic research and analysis.(AFP-Naharnet-AP)
19-12-06
BY: NAHARNET
Chief investigator Serge Brammertz has cited progress in gathering crime scene evidence and probing potential perpetrators in ex-premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.
The commission has made progress in the two main areas of its investigation in the Hariri case - developing crime scene evidence and investigating potential perpetrators," Brammertz said Monday.
Briefing the UN Security Council on his 22-page report, submitted to the U.N. last week, he said his panel "has reached a critical stage" in its probe.
An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday quoted sources from the parliamentary majority as saying that U.N. chief Kofi Annan recommended to the Security Council the extension of Brammertz' mission for another six months.
It said diplomatic sources in New York told some members of the parliamentary majority that Annan asked for an extension until June 15, 2007.
The sources said that Security Council members have a 24-hour time limit to oppose the recommendation or it becomes effective.
Brammertz also said that the panel and Lebanese authorities both "believe that placing information concerning suspects and witnesses in the public domain would make it difficult for sensitive witnesses to step forward and engage with the commission and may be prejudicial to future trials before a tribunal."
The Belgian prosecutor noted that his team's objective was "to collect evidence that will be admissible before a future international tribunal" that is to try suspects in the Hariri murder.
He said that he could not say when his probe would be completed, noting that "an investigation of this complexity takes time."
The U.N. report, the sixth to look into the February 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on the Beirut seafront, sought to establish the geographic origin of the suspected bomber, an unidentified male whose "complete tooth and other biological parts found on the crime scene" are being analyzed by experts.
The first phase of analysis showed that "the individual did not spend his youth in Lebanon, but was situated in the country in the last two to three months before his death, the report said.
"The report discusses the type of area in which the individual lived during the last 10 years or so of his life, although at this stage no specific region can as yet be derived from the analysis," the panel said.
The inquiry commission said it "will continue to request Syria's full cooperation, which remains crucial to the swift and successful completion of its work."
Brammertz's German predecessor Detlev Mehlis had implicated in the Hariri slaying senior officials from Syria, which for decades was the power broker in Lebanon. Damascus strongly denies any connection with Hariri's slaying.
Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Jaafari on Monday noted that the Brammertz report "clearly shows that Syria's cooperation has been satisfactory and has come in a timely way."
While pledging continued Syrian cooperation, he warned, "the greatest risk facing this investigation is that some parties in our region and beyond ... are exploiting this investigation in order to reach politicized conclusions which have no relationship whatsoever with the requirement of an investigation and which are not based on any proof."
Brammertz said that since last September 15, 10 new formal requests for help had been sent to five states other than Syria, bringing the total number of such requests to roughly 60 since March.
He said that while most states had responded positively, "the lack of responsiveness by certain (unnamed states) has impeded or slowed down the work of the commission on several fronts."
The Belgian prosecutor meanwhile said that a final report by outside experts endorsed his panel's assumptions that the Hariri attack consisted of only one blast of an RDX-based high explosive used in military and industrial application.
He also pointed to a considerable number of links between the Hariri case and six of 14 other attacks against anti-Syrian Lebanese personalities or entities.
He said further analysis will be done in the next three months "to develop these links."
Similarly, the commission will continue to help Lebanese authorities investigate the Nov. 21 assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel - an event that pushed lingering political tensions in the country to a new crisis point.
It is the preliminary assessment of the commission that minister Gemayel was the subject of surveillance as part of a planned assassination operation against him," Brammertz said, adding that 250 exhibits from the crime scene have been sent to a laboratory for forensic research and analysis.(AFP-Naharnet-AP)
