The UN-backed international tribunal's judges have unanimously adopted amendments to 14 rules in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) announced Wednesday.
 
The tribunal said in a statement that the court's president proposed these amendments in view of the first procedural steps taken by the tribunal, and following consultations with the office of the prosecutor, the office of the defense and the registrar.
 
The amendments are designed to further enhance and facilitate proceedings before the court that will try ex-Premier Rafiq Hariri's suspected assassins, the statement said.
 
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was set up to try the suspected assassins of Hariri. The court in the Dutch city of Leidschendam will be the first international tribunal to try terrorist crimes. So far, no one has been charged by Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.

Hariri murder
Hariri was killed by a massive car bomb explosion in Beirut on 14 February 2005. The attack also took the lives of Finance Minister Bassel Fleihan and 20 others. About 220 people were injured. The assassination sparked a worldwide outcry that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after an occupation lasting nearly 30 years.

Not long after the killing, the UN sent an international team to investigate. Based on the evidence it found, the team concluded that Syria and pro-Syrian elements were involved in planning the attack. The Lebanese parliament in 2005 asked the UN to help establish a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the murder.

A 2006 agreement between the UN and Lebanon established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, or 'Hariri tribunal'. Its statute was endorsed on 30 May 2007, giving the court a mandate to try those suspected of assassinating Hariri. The court may also investigate other attacks in Lebanon, of a similar nature or gravity, committed after 1 October 2004.

The tribunal will have a $51.4 million budget for 2009. Lebanon, which will contribute 49 percent of it, had already made a significant down payment. The rest will come from voluntary contributions from UN member states.

The registrar expects the tribunal to complete its work in three to five years.

Terrorist crime
The Hariri Tribunal is the first UN-sponsored criminal court to try persons for 'terrorist' crimes. The body is a 'hybrid' international court, similar to the war crimes courts for Sierra Leone and Cambodia, with the important distinction that it will apply Lebanese law, not international law.

Among the crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are acts of terrorism, rebellion, civil war and interfaith conflict. The establishment of the tribunal remains a sensitive issue in Lebanon, where tension between pro and anti-Syrian camps runs high.