Commentary

The possibility of holding trials in the absence of the accused is one of the main innovations of the Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), and has been described as a ground-breaking development in international procedural law. Whereas all the modern international tribunals contemplate in absentia proceedings if the accused - after having initially appeared - flees, refuses to attend or disrupts the proceedings, the STL is the only international court that can try in their absence accused persons that have never appeared before the judges. On 1 February 2012, the Trial Chamber of the Tribunal initiated proceedings in absentia against four alleged Hezbollah affiliates, accused of the terrorist attack of 14 February 2005 that killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 other people. On 20 December 2013, the Tribunal decided to proceed in absentia against a fifth defendant, whose case was joined to the main one on 11 February 2014. This is the first time since Nuremberg that an international tribunal will try accused persons whose whereabouts are unknown and who remain at large.