BEIRUT A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres quoted him as saying Monday that he “has taken note of the judgment delivered by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, asked the U.N. secretary general in a letter on Friday to urgently explore ways of financing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in light of funding difficulties. "The Government of Lebanon would be grateful to Your Excellency for urgently exploring different and alternative means of financing the Tribunal with the Security Council and Member States," he said in the letter. An exclusive report by Reuters last week revealed that the U.N. tribunal, set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri had run out of funding amid Lebanon's economic and political crisis, threatening plans for future trials.
THE HAGUE (Reuters) -A U.N. tribunal set up to prosecute those behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and related cases said on Wednesday it will have to close after July if it is unable to resolve an acute funding shortage. An exclusive report by Reuters last week revealed the tribunal, which is funded 51% by voluntary contributions and 49% by the Lebanese government, had run out of money. Last year the tribunal convicted in absentia former Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash for the bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others in a ruling that is being appealed..