STL Pre-Trial Judge Orders Release of 270 Probe Files to Jamil Sayyed

Local Editor

The pre-trial judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) ordered the court's prosecutor release over 270 documents to former General Security chief Jamil Sayyed.
According to a statement on the STL's website, Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has ordered that STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to release more than 270 documents to Major General Jamil Sayyed, Lebanon's former General Security chief.

"Fransen ruled that Mr. Sayyed would receive some of the documents in the possession of the STL Prosecutor very soon. A large majority of these will be disclosed to Mr. Sayyed, whilst others can only be inspected by his counsel," the press office clarified.
The website statement further said that the pre-trial judge had ruled that the documents could only be used for what it called legitimate purposes. It stressed that the use of these documents "must respect the presumption of innocence, the right of the defense and the right to privacy of third parties."

The statement said Fransen ordered Bellemare to file a report by June 13 that provided an explanation on how he completed the obligations required in the decision. It added that should Bellemare find new documents during his probe, he may be required to disclose them. "The pre-trial judge has also ordered the prosecutor to review some additional documents, which may be released to Sayyed in the future," it said.

Sayyed was one of four Lebanese generals politically detained on the basis of slanderous accusations by the Lebanese authorities in connection with the 2005 assassination of then Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and others, to be later released in April 2009 only weeks after the establishment of the STL.