NNA - Head of the STL's Defense Office Francois Roux on Monday refused to charge Merhi before pre-trial proceedings, saying that when a person is accused, he should enjoy the full right to be defended by lawyers.



"This is what the European Court of Human Rights has been keen on all along," he said.



Roux then discussed some procedural points related to Merhi's trail.



"Our dream is to have the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as perfect as could be, especially concerning the respect of procedures and respect of the rights of those accused. President Cassese had suggested ways to achieve this, but we have failed to fulfill his dream," said Roux.



"One of the Defense teams is absent from the hall, it is Merhi's defense team," added Roux to explain that the reason is that the Public Prosecutor had convicted Merhi after two years and five months from the start of trail date. In February 2012 Daniel Bellemare requested adding Merhi to the list of those accused," explained Roux, regretting the fact that Merhi had not enjoyed the right of having his case discussed in pre-trial proceedings.



"We start today's trial with flaws - the defense team is not responsible for this situation resulting from decisions by the Attorney General - but I imagine he will justify it and the defense team will raise further questions about this issue."



"Merhi's lawyers are present in their capacity as Counselors, however there exists no such thing as a silent lawyer," added Roux, expressing reservation on their presence as counselors.



He also explained that Merhi's name had been mentioned 124 times without giving the defense team an opportunity to respond, stressing that the Prosecutor General is not entitled to press charges before the pre-trial steps en route to conviction.



"On the behalf of Merhi and his best interest, I request of the Chamber to halt all the violations of Mr. Merhi's rights," he concluded.



In turn, the Chamber President said that he had not received any request from Merhi's lawyer to postpone the trial date.


===============R.H.