With the opening statement of the Prosecution
in relation to the accused Merhi scheduled for this Wednesday, today a pre-trial
conference was held to discuss the procedural aspects of the resumption of
trial. Because of the joinder with the case against the accused Merhi, no
evidence has been called in the Ayyash case since February of this year. Scheduling
issues were the main topic of today’s conference. After the Prosecution’s
opening statement this Wednesday, the Defence for Merhi will give its opening
statement on Thursday.
The first witness after the resumption of trial is
scheduled to appear next week, on Tuesday 24 June. However, in relation to many
of the witnesses to be called in the coming weeks, it remains unsure whether
the Prosecution will be able to arrange their presence in the courtroom in
Leidschendam. Therefore, it is to be expected that most of them will testify
via video-conference link. Further, the Merhi Defence is still opposing the
calling of a number of Prosecution expert witnesses at this stage of the
proceedings, as its defence experts have not yet finished their analyses.
Other issues discussed were (i) upcoming
guidelines on the inspection of exhibits by the parties, including the need to request
prior authorisation from the Chamber by parties wishing to unseal or remove exhibits;
and (ii) on-going problems regarding the cooperation between the government
of Lebanon and the defence teams that are seeking to obtain specific documentation.
After several of these procedural hearings in
the last few months, with the opening statements of Wednesday and Thursday, the
Lebanon Tribunal will finally return to the substance of its main case.
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