Registrar of Special Tribunal for Lebanon Is Appointed, Tribunal Is Ready


(Picture: the building of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague)


Ban Ki-moon names top official for Lebanon tribunal

11 March 2008 – A veteran of numerous international court proceedings has been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the Registrar of the tribunal being set up to try those responsible for political killings in Lebanon, particularly the 2005 attack that killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Robin Vincent of the United Kingdom will start his duties on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon at a date yet to be determined, but “the appointment of the Registrar reflects the steady progress being accomplished in establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Vincent served as Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Since then, he has served as the temporary Deputy Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and has advised on the establishment of other international tribunals, including the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The Security Council set up the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) in April 2005 after an earlier UN mission found that Lebanon’s own inquiry into the Hariri assassination was seriously flawed and that Syria was primarily responsible for the political tensions that preceded the attack. Mr. Hariri died in a massive car bombing in Beirut in February 2005 that also took the lives of 22 others.


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Khalilzad: Hariri Tribunal Ready to Launch Trials

11 March 2008

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad has said the international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was ready to launch trials.

"The U.N. has everything it needs for the first year to activate the tribunal," Khalilzad said in remarks published Tuesday.

Khalilzad, who was speaking before a Security Council meeting in New York to discuss U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's sixth report on Resolution 1701, said the contributions to finance the tribunal have reached more than $50 million, including $21,3 in pledges.

He said a "management committee" had been established.

The committee, which will among other tasks provide advice and policy direction on all non-judicial aspects of the operations of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and oversee expenditures, is composed of France, Germany, Holland, Britain, the United States and the United Nations, he added.


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Related materials on Middle East policy:

- Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

- 'Management Committee' of Special Tribunal for Lebanon Is Set Up

- Special Tribunal for Lebanon Gets Base, Judges

- The International Tribunal for Lebanon (Resolution 1757)

- UN Report on the Establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

- Ninth report of Hariri International Investigation Commission

- Memo for International Tribunal for Lebanon

- Special Tribunal for Lebanon Comes Into Force

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