UN offers new draft for Hariri tribunal
By Ferry Biedermann and Mark Turner 
November 11, 2006
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/520ca3f4-7129-11db-8e0b-0000779e2340.html
The United Nations on Friday handed Lebanese officials a new draft framework for an international tribunal to judge those implicated in last year’s murder of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister.
Talks to resolve Lebanon’s political situation and avoid civil unrest continue on Saturday. But some leading anti-Syrian politicians have accused their opponents of fomenting the current political turmoil - sparked partly by the Shia Hizbollah movement’s demands for a national unity government in which it would have more influence - in order to block the tribunal. 
The murder of Mr Hariri and 20 others in February 2005 lead to anti-Syrian protests and the eventual withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. An ongoing UN investigation into the murder has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian security officials. Four Lebanese security chiefs who were close to the country’s pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, have been charged in connection with the case, but Damascus and Mr Lahoud have denied any involvement.
Charles Rizk, Lebanon’s justice minister, has told the FT that the president, more than anybody else in Lebanon, is trying to block the tribunal, which under the new draft proposal would be made up of Lebanese and foreign judges.
“Apparently you have people, with the president at the top, who seem very nervous,” he said. But he added that nobody had anything to fear. Mr Lahoud issued more than 30 pages of objections to an earlier draft.
Mr. Rizk’s own position has come under attack in the current political deliberations. He said that this was because of his staunch support for the tribunal.
The Justice Minister praised the role of Russia in drafting the proposals.
“The Russians have been playing a very useful role in putting together the different points of view and producing a middle of the road formula which will be acceptable to all.” He said that this facilitated achieving an internal Lebanese consensus on the issue.
UN officials said they now felt comfortable the draft would be acceptable to the Security Council, despite a series of Russian objections during recent consultations.
After the UN receives Lebanon’s response to the draft, Kofi Annan will send a report to the Security Council.
When Lebanon’s cabinet was formed last year, after the election victory of the anti-Syrian coalition, Mr Rizk took his seat as an ally of the embattled Mr Lahoud. He has since parted ways with him, especially on the issue of the tribunal, and is now himself considered a candidate for the presidency.
The current political crisis in Lebanon is driven by Hizbollah’s demand for more influence in the cabinet for itself and its allies in the wake of this summer’s war with Israel. Hizbollah has not come out against the tribunal, although the anti-Syrian majority says it fears the movement will block the tribunal it tribunal if it gains greater power in the cabinet.
Mr. Rizk said he expected Lebanon to approve the tribunal eventually. He had warm words for Hizbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and called his reservations over earlier drafts, “legitimate”.
He said that he shared the Hizbollah leader’s concerns that the tribunal should not become “a political tool”.
The Belgian UN-investigator, Serge Brammertz, is expected to issue a third report on the murder of Mr. Hariri by mid-December. Some officials in Lebanon have speculated that it may include at least some of the names of people who could be indicted before a future tribunal.
The court, whose location is yet to be determined, would have jurisdiction over people responsible for the Hariri assassination, and also over any other attacks between October 1 2004 and December 12 2005 deemed to be of a similar nature and gravity.
It would apply Lebanese criminal law, and the trial chamber will consist of three judges, one Lebanese and two international. Five judges will serve in an appeals chamber, two Lebanese and three international. All would be appointed by the UN Secretary General on the recommendation of a selection panel, in consultation with the Lebanese government.
There will be one international prosecutor and a Lebanese deputy.