BEIRUT
By Paula Astih
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said Wednesday that the trial of suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri represented a step towards achieving justice.
"The tribunal is a step towards holding criminals accountable for their actions," Suleiman said on the eve of a Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
"It will lead to the truth behind the crimes and it will make the assailants realize that they are not immune from justice,"he added.
The tribunal, he said,would prevent others from committing such crimes in future.
Hariri was killed in 2005 in a deadly Beirutcar bombing.
Five Hezbollah members stand accused by the tribunal, which will begin proceedings at The Hague on Thursday.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, for his part, has denounced the tribunal as an "American-Israeli plot."
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