Head of UN tribunal for Lebanon arrives in Beirut

Nov 23, 2011, 9:00 GMT

Beirut - The president of the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, arrived in Beirut Wednesday, to discuss the country's delay in paying its share in funding the court, a government source told dpa.

Judge David Baragwanath is scheduled to meet Lebanese officials, where he will warn them that he must inform the UN Security council 'in writing' if Lebanon refuses to pay its 49 percent share of funds to the STL, the source said.

The STL, created by a 2007 UN Security Council resolution at Lebanon's request, is tasked with trying those suspected of killing Hariri and 22 others in a massive car-bombing on February 14, 2005.

On October 17, the court indicted four members of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in the Hariri killing, a charge the movement has vehemently denied.

Hezbollah, which currently controls the Lebanese government, has refused, along with their allies, to pay due funds for the STL, after describing it as 'an Israeli project against the movement.'

STL sources said the country still owes 70 percent of its share of the tribunal's funding for 2011.

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