Brammertz hands over his first report on al-Hariri assassination
Lebanon-Syria-UN, Politics, 3/15/2006

The UN press office said that the first report by the UN prosecutor Serge Brammertz, the chairman of the UN committee to the investigation in the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, was distributed on Tuesday on the UN Security Council permanent member states.

The source said that Brammertz who arrived in New York on Monday will talk before members of the UN Security Council on Thursday, adding that his report will not be circulated immediately to journalists and not specify a date for its publication.

Brammertz cordoned his work with great amount of secrecy since he had assumed this mission in succession of Detlev Mehlis in January this year. He held his first visit to Damascus in February this year where he had met with the Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Muaallim.

The spokeswoman for the Belgian judge Radia Ashouri in Beirut abstained from answering on any question pertaining to Brammertz efforts or his visit in the few past days to Damascus, stressing that his moves "were held in top secret."

The Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Muaallim stressed on Sunday, upon his arrival in Moscow in a visit focused to discuss the UN report in the assassination incident, that his country "is making active contacts with the UN investigation committee," expressing his hope that its report will be objective.

For his part, the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov urged Syria to fully cooperate with the UN investigation committee. He said that Moscow does not find it is necessary to impose sanctions on Damascus.

The UN investigation committee asked in January to interview the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his vice president Farouq al-Sharaa following accusations made by the former Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam against Syrian officials.

Worthy mentioning that the investigation committee completed under the previous UN investigation chairmanship had two reports which indicated the existence of " common evidences on the involvement of Syrian and Lebanese intelligence departments in the crime of the Hariri assassination and accused Syria of not collaborating enough with the UN investigation committee.

Previous Stories:
  Junblat meets Annan in New York   (3/10/2006)
  Brammertez arrives in Damascus within 48 hours   (3/9/2006)
  Asharq al-Awsat: Syria reaches confidential agreement with UN investigators   (3/7/2006)

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