Punishing Assassins: The UN Security Councils Criminal Tribunal for Lebanon

1
Punishing Assassins The UN Security Councils
Criminal Tribunal for Lebanon

• Sarah Williams
• Durham University

2
Overview

• Background
• Establishment of the STL
• Key features
• Legal Basis
• Legal Issues immunity, cooperation, primacy

3
Background (1)

• Political tension during 2004/05
• Assassination of Hariri in Feb 2005
• Establishment of the UNIIIC
• Resolution 1595
• Resolution 1636
• Further assassinations and bombings in 2005

4
Background (2)

• Request from Lebanon in December 2005
• Resolution 1644
• Council endorses report attaching draft agreement
  and statute
• Agreement signed by UN and GoL in early 2007
• Lebanon requests unilateral establishment

5
Background (3)

• Resolution 1757, 30 May 2007
• Assassination threat to international peace and
  security
• Chapter VII resolution
• Agreement to enter into force on 10 June 2007,
  unless GoL notifies Council that agreement has
  been ratified
• Provisions re headquarters agreement and funding
• Agreement not ratified, entered into force on 10
  June 2007

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Key features (1) Structure

• Pre-trial judge, Trial Chamber, Appeals Chamber,
  with international judges
• International prosecutor, national deputy
• International registrar
• Defence office

7
Key features (2) Funding and location

• Funding
• 51 from voluntary contributions and 49 from GoL
• Phased introduction
• Location
• To sit outside Lebanon due to security concerns
• Agreement concluded with the Netherlands to host
  the STL in The Hague
• Office in Lebanon
• Management Committee

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Key features (3) Jurisdiction

• Temporal
• Personal
• Territorial
• Subject matter
• Domestic crimes only

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Key features (5) Procedural aspects

• Draws on civil law traditions
• Designed to use the material gathered by the
  UNIIIC, practical and legal issues
• Trials in absentia
• Provisions on rights of victims
• No death penalty

10
Legal basis (1)

• Originally intended to be a treaty-based court,
  like the SCSL
• What is the effect of Resolution 1757?
• Two possibilities

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Legal basis (2)

• Option One STL remains a treaty-based tribunal
• BUT
• Article 2(7) limitation
• Implications for the law of treaties
• Implications for the powers / validity of the
  Security Council

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Legal basis (3)

• Option Two
• STL established by Chapter VII as a Chapter
  VII tribunal
• Language of Resolution 1757
• Finding as to TIPS
• BUT
• First hybrid to be established by Chapter VII
• Valid exercise of Councils powers?
• Different to ICTY/R?
• Preferable to option 1?

13
Legal Issues (1)

• Cooperation
• Agreement contains binding obligations for
  Lebanon
• Resolution 1757 silent as to obligations for
  other states
• Existing Council resolutions (1373 1566)
• Terrorism conventions other cooperation / MLA
  agreements
• Future Council resolutions

14
Legal Issues (2)

• Immunity
• No provision in statute
• Does international law recognise immunity for
  terrorism crimes?
• Can terrorism be an official act?
• International tribunal legal basis relevant to
  immunity?
• Is a specific Council resolution removing
  immunity required?

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Legal Issues (3)

• Primacy
• Agreement confers primacy in respect of courts in
  Lebanon
• No provision regards courts of other states
• Possibility of trials in Syria terrorism
  conventions only oblige to extradite or prosecute

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Future

• Role of STL as part of overall strategy in the
  region
• Risk of destabilising Syria?
• Political will to enable STL to perform its
  mandate?
• Future tribunals for political assassinations
• ICC
• Pakistan and East Timor?