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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| STL Appeals Chamber Dismisses Defense Challenges to Tribunal Legality |
| 2012-10-25 |
| [An Nahar] The Appeals Chamber of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb probing ex-PM Rafik Hariri's murder has unanimously dismissed Defense challenges to the Tribunal's legality, the STL said in a statement on Wednesday. Defense counsel for the four accused had challenged, before the Trial Chamber, the legality of the Tribunal, arguing that it violates Lebanese illusory sovereignty and that it has selective jurisdiction and no authority to try the accused. On July 27, the Trial Chamber dismissed the Defense motions noting that the Tribunal was created by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757 and the Trial Chamber did not have the authority to review this resolution, rejecting all the challenges filed by the Defense. The decision was appealed by counsel for three of the four accused. Four of the five Appeals Chamber judges agreed in their decision, issued on Wednesday, that they lacked the authority to review a Security Council resolution. However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... in a separate opinion, STL President Judge David Baragwanath expressed the view that the STL, as a court of law, must exercise a limited authority to review certain aspects of Security Council resolutions. He nonetheless concluded that the Defense Counsel have failed to establish that the Security Council acted beyond its authority and joined the other judges in dismissing the appeals. Defense Counsel have argued in both Chambers that while the February 14, 2005 attack was tragic, it did not constitute a threat to international peace and security, which was the prerequisite for the Security Council's intervention to establish the STL. The Appeals Chamber "considers that the Security Council has a broad discretion as to the characterization of a particular situation as a threat to peace and security and that the Tribunal cannot judicially review the Security Council's actions," the summary of the decision reads. |
| Posted by:Fred |