Hariri heads March 14 delegation for STL opening session

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on Saturday that he will attend the opening session of the trial of the alleged killers of his father, late premier Rafik Hariri, on January 16 in The Hague. “Hariri will head a March 14 delegation to attend the opening session of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) reported on Saturday afternoon. The STL announced in December 2013 that its Trial Chamber has scheduled the start of trial in the case of the 2005 assassination of late premier Hariri and his companions for January 16, 2014. The STL also confirmed that it has received Lebanon’s share of the 2013 budget from the government. The full sum of 29, 386, 609 euros, amounting to 49 per cent of the tribunal's budget, was transferred to the STL's bank account, it said. In 2011, the court accused four Hizbullah members -- Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Ayyash, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra – of being involved in the attack. A fifth Hizbullah suspect, Hassan Habib Merhi, was indicted in 2013. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has rejected the STL, describing it as an American-Israeli product bent on destroying the party. He has vowed never to cooperate with the tribunal, saying that the suspects, who remain at large, will never be found. Hariri and 22 others were killed in a massive car bomb in Beirut on February 14, 2005.