LEIDSCHENDAM, NETHERLANDS // The trial of the four men accused of killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri opened on Thursday, with the prosecution saying Lebanon had the right to know who was responsible for the attack that created a “man-made hell”.
The accused, who are members of the militant Hizbollah movement, are charged with planning the 2005 blast on Beirut’s waterfront, an attack that killed Hariri, the suicide bomber and 21 others.
“No one in Lebanon can fail to have been affected directly, or indirectly, by the attack in downtown Beirut that on 14 February 2005, killed Mr Rafiq Hariri,” said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s chief prosecutor, Norman Farrell.
“The people of Lebanon have a right to this trial and to seek the truth,” he said.
The tribunal is unique in international justice as it was set up to try the perpetrators of a terrorist attack and because it can try the suspects in absentia.
The four suspects, who remain at large, have been charged with nine counts, ranging from conspiracy to commit a terrorist act to homicide and attempted homicide.
Hizbollah denies involvement in the murder and the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has denounced the court as a conspiracy by his archenemies — the US and Israel.
Rafiq Hariri’s son, Saad, criticised those who are shielding the suspects from justice, calling it “a crime added to the main crime”.
Saad — like his late father, also a former prime minister — was in the courtroom for the start of the trial along with family members of other victims of the February 14, 2005, blast.
“Our presence here today is in itself a proof that our stance, since the first moment, and every moment, was and will continue to be: seeking justice, not revenge, punishment and not vengeance,” he told reporters outside court, saying it was “the time of justice for Lebanon”.
Presiding Judge David Re says prosecutors will call hundreds of witnesses in a trial likely to take months.
The prosecution case is expected to be made up of evidence including large amounts of data from mobile phones allegedly used by the plotters to plan and execute the bombing.
Mr Farrell showed the court photos of the aftermath of the attack, including a smouldering, rubble-strewn crater around 12 meters across and the flaming wreckage of the lorry. He told judges attackers packed “an extraordinary quantity of high grade explosives” into a Mitsubishi lorry to kill Hariri.
A scale model of the blast scene stood on a table in the centre of the courtroom, which has been purpose built in the gym of a former Dutch spy agency’s headquarters.
Another prosecutor, Alexander Milne, said the blast created “a man-made hell”. He showed videos of the immediate aftermath and photos including one he said showed Hariri’s body covered by a plaid blanket.
“The force of the blast was such that Mr. Hariri was thrown from his car and it’s reasonable to conclude that he died quickly at the scene,” said Milne, who called the bombing, “a cruel, cruel act.”
The four Hizbollah suspects include Mustafa Badreddine, believed to have been the group’s deputy military commander, who also is the suspected bomb maker in the 1983 blast at the US Marines barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans.
The other suspects are Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Assad Sabra and Hassan Oneissi, who changed his name to Hassan Issa. The fifth to be indicted was Hassan Habib Merhi, who was indicted later than the other four suspects and is not officially a suspect in the trial that started Thursday.
There are fears in Lebanon that the tribunal will open a new chapter of sectarian violence in a country where the Syrian civil war has spilt over with increasing frequency in the past few months. Sunni-Shiite tensions are soaring, and there has been a new wave of killings among Lebanon’s Shiite and Sunni political factions.
Hariri, who also held Saudi citizenship, was one of Lebanon’s most influential Sunni leaders, with wide connections in the Arab world and international community.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, suspicion fell on Syria, since Hariri had been seeking to weaken its domination of Lebanon. Syria has denied any role in the murder, but the killing galvanised opposition to Damascus and led to huge street demonstrations, dubbed the Cedar Revolution, that helped put an end to Syria’s 29-year military presence in the country.
Associated Press with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
