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| Cassese Rejects Sayyed's Motions to Disqualify Judges Riachy and Chamseddine |
| 2010-11-08 |
| [An Nahar] The President of the Special Tribunal for Leb, Judge Antonio Cassese, issued two decisions Friday in which he rejected Major General Jamil Sayyed's motions to disqualify Judges Ralph Riachy and Afif Chamseddine from considering an appeal of his special application before the Tribunal. The Special Tribunal for Leb issued a statement saying that Cassese determined that Riachy and Chamseddine have no personal interest in or association with Sayyed's application that could affect or appear to affect their impartiality. In reaching these decisions Cassese referred to Rule 25 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Special Tribunal for Leb, to jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and to the jurisprudence of some national courts. The President first rejected Sayyed's argument that Riachy and Chamseddine were tainted by the very fact of their nomination to the Tribunal by the Government of Leb. The Judges were chosen for their "extensive judicial experience" and "high moral character, impartiality and integrity." They were appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, with the assistance of an independent selection committee, from a list of candidates proposed by the Lebanese Supreme Council of the Judiciary. Furthermore, President Cassese emphasized that Sayyed's argument, if accepted, would mean no Lebanese judge could ever sit on any Chamber of the Tribunal. This would frustrate the mixed composition of the Tribunal's Chambers. In his motion for the disqualification of Judge Riachy, Sayyed had also argued that Judge Riachy should be disqualified because of his earlier participation in a decision of Leb's Court of Cassation. The President rejected this argument as well, stating that "Judge Riachy was not involved in any case concerning the detention of Mr. Sayyed", much less has he made any ruling regarding the issue currently before the Tribunal. Sayyed has petitioned the Tribunal for access to documents he believes will demonstrate that his nearly four year detention by the Lebanese authorities was based on false evidence. The Prosecutor of the Tribunal has appealed the Pre-Trial Judge's preliminary determination that the Tribunal has jurisdiction to consider Sayyed's application and that Sayyed has standing to bring his request before the Tribunal. Judge Riachy and Judge Chamseddine will participate in the consideration of the Prosecutor's interlocutory appeal, along with President Cassese, Judge David Baragwanath of New Zealand, and Judge Kjell Erik Bjِrnberg of Sweden. |
| Posted by:Fred |