Head of the STL's Defense Office Francois Roux on Monday refused to charge Merhi before pre-trial proceedings, saying that an accused should enjoy the full right to be defended by lawyers.
"This is what the European Court of Human Rights has been keen on all along," he said, then discussed some procedural points related to Merhi's trail.
"Our dream is to have the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as perfect as could be, particularly concerning the respect of procedures and respect of the rights of those accused. President Cassese had suggested ways to achieve this, but we have failed to fulfill his dream," said Roux.
"One of the Defense teams is absent from the hall, it is Merhi's defense team," added Roux to explain that the reason is that the Public Prosecutor had convicted Merhi after two years and five months from the start of trail date. In February 2012 Daniel Bellemare requested adding Merhi to the list of those accused," explained Roux, regretting the fact that Merhi had not enjoyed the right of having his case discussed in pre-trial proceedings.
"We start today's trial with flaws - the defense team is not responsible for this situation resulting from decisions by the Attorney General - but I imagine he will justify it and the defense team will raise further questions about this issue."
"Merhi's lawyers are present in their capacity as Counselors, however there exists no such thing as a silent lawyer," added Roux, expressing reservations on their presence as counselors.
Roux noted that Merhi’s name was mentioned around 124 times without giving the defense team the opportunity to respond to all allegations, not to mention that the Prosecutor General is not permitted to press charges before pre-trial steps on the way to conviction.
"On the behalf of Merhi and his best interest, I request of the Chamber to halt all the violations of Mr. Merhi's rights," he concluded.
In response to aforesaid allegations, Chamber President confirmed that he did not receive any request to postpone the trial.
Mr. Antoine Korkmaz, Mustafa Badreddine’s Counsel, said that the legitimacy of international justice is in jeopardy through the work of the STL, warning of turning it into a delusional one.
Badreddine's defense lawyer said that the investigations dossier is filled with gaps and imbalances, affirming the presence of bids to cover facts through sham prosecutions during the court sessions.
"Politics should be left outside the doors of this trial," he said.
The lawyer deemed it imprecise to have the trial continue with the absence of those accused.
He said that the Lebanese government was adopting a double policy and unashamedly violating its duties by failing to cooperate with both parties.
The Prosecutor accused a fifth person "who is now absent because his case was not yet referred to the chamber," however Korkomaz explained that the defense warned of commencing the trial before the annexation of Merhi's case.
"The legal qualification of the terrorist act is groundless," The Counsel said and then explained that when the definition of a terrorist act stipulated that it aimed at creating panic among the people, then the attack of February 14 did not match this qualification. Hence, he deemed the conclusions of experts not to fit the legal description of terrorism.
"There were no evidences on the presence of a suicide bomber at the scene of explosion," he affirmed.
Korkomaz said that the evidences presented by the Prosecution were only circumstantial. "The law does not accept such evidences and we shall challenge them," he explained. Moreover, Korkomaz said that the Prosecution did not summon any witness to confirm the participation of Badreddine in the attack, and voiced a strong worded notice to the Trials Chamber saying that "he shall not spare a chance to put the STL before its responsibilities.
Hussein Oneissi's Defense Attorney, Vincent Corsi Labrousse, said that the STL's prime goal was to reach the whole truth, refusing scenarios deeming Oneissi guilty for the mere fact that he's being tried in abstentia.
"We are independent lawyers and we are not committed to the interests of one party or another," he said.
"All the investigations, from the beginning till the end, indicate that the Attorney General has taken up to nine years to complete his investigations. He has made thousands of interviews and millions of dollars as opposed to the defense team that had only two years in order to study thousands of pages."
"This will have a direct impact on our defense team, and the evidence that the attorney's office is to present shall constitute a small part of the investigations," he said.
"The current situation in Lebanon does not allow us to carry out necessary investigations. The absence of the accused is not an indicator of guilt, but a trial in absentia puts us in a position of weakness. I'm not defending any legal system, but I want the best system for the accused. Unfortunately, this is not the case," he added.
Oneissi's attorney added, "We defend a person with whom we have no contact and does not participate in his own trial. This is his choice, based on personal or political reasons. Is he alive? I hope so."
"We were not able to investigate directly with our clients. We were hoping to benefit from the state to support our case (...) however, the Lebanese state has failed to respond to the Defense team thus far," he concluded.
Head of STL Defense Office, François Roux, on Monday said after the court hearing that the financial resources allocated to defense lawyers, as well as data at their disposal, were deficient despite the presence of an official in Beirut to assist them.
"The person in charge in Beirut is assisting lawyers, but he is not an investigator. He does not communicate directly with the accused," Roux said, noting that the defense team has never had any direct or indirect communication with these defendants.
For his part, the Presiding Judge of the Trial Chamber, Judge David Re, ruled unacceptable depriving Merhi lawyers from presenting their comments.
He summoned these lawyers to submit written comments before the court.
Defense lawyer of Hussein Oneissi, accused of involvement in the 2005 Beirut bombing, on Monday slammed the Prosecution of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for "obstructing the work of the defense by delaying access to files."
"The prosecution presented the telecom data exactly as it was issued by the Lebanese government. They obtained the entire data since more than four years. There was some side that has disallowed Lebanon's investigations," attorney Yasser Hassan said from The Hague, where the STL is holding in absentia trials for Hezbollah members accused of the killing of former PM Rafic Hariri.
"We cannot contact the accused and we cannot learn their opinion. This is the first individual killing operation," he added, wondering why a special tribunal was not formed when Kamal Jumblatt, Rashid Karami, Wissam Hassan, and Mohammad Shatah were assassinated.
"The Security Council proved favoritism when it formed a tribunal for one individual and totally ignored those who had made crimes and massacres," he continued.
The attorney also demanded that the Prosecution tell if there are other suspects.
The STL trial sessions were adjourned on Monday at 2:15 p.m. and is scheduled to resume sessions on Wednesday, January 22.
Accused Mustapha Badreddine's Counsel, Antoine Korkmaz, expressed disapproval of the issue of the telephone calls, especially that the Prosecutor General is relying on the theme of the red network while not knowing yet the people with whom Ayyash spoke to.
On the subject of STL funding, Korkmaz wondered "which countries are funding aforementioned court and to which political affiliation do they belong?"
"In accordance with the UN statute, Court funding cannot be secured through donations but rather through subscriptions, in order to ensure its independence," Korkmaz said.
He also criticized the budget allocated to the defense body compared to that of prosecution, in addition to the slow pace of transactions with the Lebanese government in meeting their demands, in terms of telephone lines or others.
Defense attorney of Hussein Oneissi, currently being tried in The Hague for involvement of the 2005 killing of statesman Rafic Hariri, on Monday told the National News Agency that the list of suspects might include a fifth individual, noting that four Hezbollah members are being now prosecuted.
"Our stance will be determined later, building on the givens the General Prosecutor will advance, because we expect the fifth accused to be added to the list of suspects," lawyer Yasser Hassan said.
"I still haven’t said all I need and have to say," he stressed, shedding light on the tremendous difficulties the Defense Counsel is shouldering to assume its defensive role."The nature of the opening pleadings was only relevant to the remarks the defense had made on the conduct and course of work of the General Prosecutor," he continued.
"The case enfolds a lot of details which the Defense still didn’t obtain," he concluded.
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