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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| STL's 2nd Day of Testimonies Focus on Truck Seen in CCTV Footage |
| 2014-01-24 |
| [An Nahar] The Special Tribunal for Leb continued on Thursday hearing the testimonies of various witnesses linked to the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Witness Robyn Fraser, who had worked for the STL Office of Prosecution between August 2009 and August 2011, continued the testimony she had started on Wednesday. Wednesday's proceedings tackled the cases of two witnesses who were directly affected by the February 2005 blast, while Fraser's testimony focused on the CCTV camera footage taken in the areas surrounding the blast scene. Senior Trial Counsel Alexander Milne carried out the cross-examination on behalf of the Office of the Prosecution, while Defense co-counsel for suspect Mustafa Badreddine Iain Edwards carried out the cross-examination on behalf of the Defense team. The Prosecution focused its questions on the CCTV footage taken by a camera at the HSBC Bank near the Hariri blast site. Attempts were made to determine the route of the lorry, suspected of carrying the explosives used in the attack, as it made its way out of the Suleiman Franjieh tunnel, making its way in front of the Phoenicia Hotel and later HSBC Bank before the kaboom took place. The Prosecution showed various stills taken by the camera at the bank, including some taken before and after the blast. Fraser explained that the camera footage is not of high quality and the investigation was unable to make any clear closeups of any individuals or vehicles at the scene. The Defense made an observation that given the proceedings of the testimonies, it has not yet been established that the white lorry seen in the footage is the white Mitsubishi that is suspected of carrying the explosives used in Hariri's liquidation. In addition, Fraser said that the lorry preceded Hariri's convoy by about a minute and that it was moving at a pace ten times slower than other vehicles. Following the Prosecution's cross-examination, the Defense focused its questioning of the witness on whether the lorry seen in the various CCTV footage was one and the same. Edwards pointed out that the quality of the footage made it impossible to make out the license plate number of the truck. |
| Posted by:Fred |