UN tribunal says Hezbollah evidence in Hariri case "incomplete"

Aug 24, 2010, 20:54 GMT

Beirut - The UN tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri said Tuesday that evidence presented by Hezbollah in the case was 'incomplete.'

The office of the prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a statement issued Tuesday called for the remaining material to be submitted 'without delay.'

It said Hezbollah members had hand delivered six DVDs to the prosecutor general of Lebanon. But a preliminary assessment of their contents 'has determined that the response is incomplete' since the material was limited to an August 9 press conference and did not contain the remaining evidence referred to by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, the statement said.

On August 9, Nasrallah accused Israel of being behind the Hariri assassination and during a press conference showed several clips of aerial views of various areas in Lebanon that he alleged were intercepted from unmanned Israeli surveillance drones.

The clips included footage of several sites in Lebanon that also show the area where Hariri was assassinated, but were not from the same year.

Hariri was killed in a massive blast in 2005 in a seaside area of Beirut.

Nasrallah's press conference came after reports indicated that some Hezbollah members will be indicted by the UN tribunal.

The Hariri assassination triggered an international outcry that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005 after a deployment of almost 30 years.

The killing has been widely blamed on Syria, but Damascus has consistently denied involvement.