The Special Tribunal for Lebanon found on Tuesday that a one Hezbollah member was found guilty and acquitted three others over their involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The UN-backed court accused Salim Ayyash as a co-conspirator of five charges linked to his involvement in the suicide truck bombing, according to the Lebanese news agency.
Hariri and 21 others were killed and 226 were wounded in a massive blast in Beirut on February 14.
"There is no evidence that the leadership of the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah or the Syrian government were involved in the 2005 bombing," the court pointed out.
“Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate al-Hariri and his political allies, however, there is no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in al-Hariri’s murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement,” Judge David Re said, reading a summary of the court’s 2600 page decision.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Saad al-Hariri said his family accepted the verdict, calling for implementing justice.
Hariri added that the international court couldn't get sufficient information and evidence due to the current situation that Lebanon witnesses.
The Dutch-based international court delayed the verdict 15 years after Hariri's assassination out of respect for the countless victims.
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