Court Opens In Assassination Case Of Lebanon Ex-Pm

Lebanese authorities, who recently released on bail three men held in connection with the killing, still hold four generals.

An international court convened to try suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Harir opened on Sunday, four years after the politician's death.

The prosecutor for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon said he will soon request the transfer of suspects and evidence in Lebanon to the court in the Netherlands.

Lebanese authorities, who recently released on bail three men held in connection with the killing, still hold four generals who were the commanders of Lebanon's pro-Syrian security establishment at the time.

It is expected the tribunal will take about three to five years to hear the case and a budget of $51.4 million budget has been allocated for its operations in 2009.

Daniel Bellemare, prosecutor for the tribunal told reporters at the opening ceremony he has 60 days to ask Lebanese authorities to transfer people and evidence to The Hague.

"No request has been made yet, but it will be made as soon as possible," he said.

Hariri and 22 other people were killed in a car bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.

Hariri's murder sparked a worldwide outcry and some anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians have said Syria was behind the bombing, a charge Damascus denies.

"In the end we are not here for the United Nations, nor are we here for the international community. We are not here for the perpetrators of crime but for the victims," Robin Vincent, the registrar of the tribunal told the audience at the ceremony, asking for a moment of silence.

Bellemare said he would continue to gather evidence and may file several indictments during the process.

"As soon as I think I have enough evidence against someone or a group of persons, I will present an indictment," he said.

Suspects transferred to The Hague will be kept at the Scheveningen detention centre, which also houses suspects of the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

If indictments are issued, suspects can surrender to the tribunal voluntarily, or the tribunal can ask the Security Council to put pressure on states to send people to the court or it can try suspects in absentia.