Special Tribunal for Lebanon Publishes Annual Report [1]
On March 11, 2020, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon presented its eleventh annual report [3] for the period March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020, to the UN Secretary-General and the Government of Lebanon. The Tribunal is dedicated to the investigation of the attack which took place in February 2005 and the trial of those accused of killing 22 people (including former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri) in the attack. It was established in UN Security Council Resolution 1757 [4] of May 30, 2007. The report highlights three "key milestones" achieved by the Tribunal in the past year: (1) progress in arriving at a judgment in the Ayyash et al. case, which the report refers to as "the first international judgment addressing the crime of terrorism"; (2) an indictment and the start of the trial in the "Connected Case" in relation to other attacks committed in October 2004, and June and July 2005; and (3) the establishment of an additional trial chamber dedicated to the Connected Case. The annual report provides further details of the activities of the "four organs" of the Tribunal: the Chambers, the Office of the Prosecutor, the Defence Office, and the Registry.