Probe into Assassination of Lebanon's Hariri Close to Trial
26 September 2006
U.S. Ambassador Bolton cites significant advances in investigation
United Nations -- The U.N. commission investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is close to having enough evidence to proceed to trial, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said September 25.
The International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC), headed by Serge Brammertz, reported to the Security Council September 25 that investigators are completing primary crime scene work, including forensic research and analysis. The commission said it "is satisfied that it has largely established the facts to an evidential standard."
The commission also is providing technical assistance to Lebanon on 14 other assassinations since October 2004. That assistance, Brammertz said in the report, "is beginning to produce links notably in identifying potential conjoining motives."
"Establishing the depth, breath and nature of those links to an evidential standard is an investigation priority over the next months," he said.
Brammertz did not identify any suspects, but said that his work over the last three months has focused on "those who participated at different levels" in carrying out the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others. (See related article.)
Talking with journalists outside the Security Council, Bolton said he saw two significant points in the report. One is the repeated reference to links the investigators are establishing between the Hariri assassination and the other 14 assassinations.
"This is something that Mr. Brammertz himself has seen to be important. We think its important, too, because the evidence that one can uncover about all 15 of these investigations can actually have a cumulative effect in showing a pattern, the activity, and perhaps the direction and control of who actually ordered the assassinations, as well as how they were carried out and who carried them out," the ambassador said.
The second significant point is that the report shows the investigation is getting "closer and closer to trial" in a number of respects, said Bolton, who is a lawyer.
"Obviously there is a lot more under the surface that the commission is not going to reveal to us," Bolton added.
"In anything this significant -- obviously we have extraordinarily high visibility -- any prudent prosecutor is going to make sure that he is absolutely ready" before he goes to court, he said.
The commission has identified "a considerable number of new leads for investigation relating to the crime scene, its vicinity and the immediate perpetration of the crime and has begun investigative and analytical work on ... certain individuals and vehicles at the crime scene before, during and immediately after the explosion, and allegations of tampering with the crime scene," the report said.
Investigators have developed "direct and indirect links between significant individuals and disparate groups," according the report.
Communication links are being established between a large number of individuals, sometimes through intermediary telephone numbers or locations, Brammertz reported. The commission has involved 17 nations as it has developed international call routing and other links between individuals. The report said.
"The crime scene and associated elements now are providing investigative leads of a secondary nature as the commission delves deeper into some of the issues," Brammertz said.
The commission is developing evidence that Hariri and his convoy were watched prior to the bombing and the assassins possibly rehearsed the attack, the report said.
"The commission believes the plan was sufficiently professional in its compilation and flexible in its execution that the exact timing of the convoy's movement towards the St. Georges hotel was not critical and the success of the operation was not conditioned upon precise movements of the vehicles," the report said.
In coming months, the investigators expect to "undertake approximately 50 key linkage-related interviews, collect and analyze a large amount of already identified electronic data, technical intelligence and documentation ... and develop further sensitive sources," Brammertz said.
A witness protection program is being put in place to help individuals who step forward with information, the report also said.
Previous UNIIIC reports have implicated Syrian officials in the assassination. Brammertz reported that Syria's cooperation during the last three months has been "timely and efficient." (See related article.)
He said that he has submitted 11 formal requests seeking information and documentation about certain individuals and groups and has conducted 11 interviews in Syria.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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