Hariri court rejects bid to acquit Hezbollah suspect

leidschendam (netherlands) — Judges at a UN-backed tribunal on Wednesday threw out a bid to acquit an alleged Hezbollah member of any role in the 2005 assassination of ex-Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

The chamber at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon “finds that the prosecution has provided a sufficiency of evidence upon which it could convict” Hussein Oneissi, presiding judge David Re said.

“Application for his acquittal is therefore dismissed,” Re added.

The judge stressed though the court “could still acquit Mr Oneissi at the end of the trial” if the prosecution has not proved the charges “beyond reasonable doubt”.

The prosecution last month concluded its case against Oneissi, and three other suspected Hezbollah members, all being tried in absentia in the court in the Netherlands.

Before opening the defence case, lawyers for Oneissi, 44, had argued the five charges against him should be dropped as the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence.

The judges agreed much of the evidence against Oneissi, much of which is based on records from mobile phone networks and SIM cards used in the attack, was circumstantial.

But “the number of coincidental actions is such that the trial chamber has sufficient evidence from which it could convict Mr Oneissi of his involvement in the attack on Mr Hariri,” judge Janet Nosworthy said.