Maj. Gen. As-Sayyed: False Witnesses, A Lebanese-Foreign Conspiracy that Wasted Four Years of Investigations

Local Editor

Major General Jamil As-Sayyed considered that Special Tribunal for Lebanon's (STL) General Prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, simplifies the situation when saying that claims of political influence on STL are "groundless".

Bellemare previously claimed in a video statement published on his official website, "It seems to me that these allegations are made by people who may fear the outcome of the tribunal's decision or of the tribunal's effort to uncover the truth".

Maj. Gen. Jamil As-Sayyed clarified in a statement he issued, that the international investigation commission is similar to the STL, where both were established after a UN Security Council resolution, and each include international and Lebanese Judges and investigators.

In this context, As-Sayyed wondered why isn't it possible that the STL would be politicized, as what occurred with the international investigation committee, which on its part adopted the false witnesses conspiracy.

As-Sayyed said that this came in light of the STL amendments of its rules, and therefore refused to prosecute the false witnesses and those who fabricated them.

Commented on what Bellemare called "incredible witnesses" rather than "false witnesses", As-Sayyed said that this will not change the truth, facts, and results which Prosecutor Bellemare is well aware of.

As-Sayyed clarified that those false witnesses were a result of a Lebanese-foreign conspiracy which has wasted four years of the investigations and the truth, and put Lebanon at the edge of a civil war and national division.

Maj. Gen. affirmed that most of the political, judicial and security authorities in Lebanon took part in fabricating, financing, and protecting the false witnesses.

Jamil As-Sayyed pointed out that no matter how much Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare tried to simplify the situation, the false witnesses' scandal will remain a blot of shame on the international justice and the STL.