The Special Tribunal for Lebanon ordered Wednesday the release of four Lebanese generals held for some four years without charge over the assassination of Lebanon's ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. "The pre-trial judge orders, unless they are held in another case, the release with immediate effect" of the four generals, judge Daniel Fransen said in a decision broadcast live to Lebanese television and via an Internet webcast.
According to the AP, he granted a request by prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, who had stated in a submission filed Monday that he had no credible evidence on which to hold the men, said the judge.
"The prosecutor considers that the evidence available to him currently is not sufficiently credible to request the detention of those persons," Fransen comveyed. "Based on that and the fact that these persons are presumed innocent, the prosecutor does not believe there is a need to keep them in detention at this point in the proceedings."
The four have been arrested in Lebanon since 2005. They are the former head of the presidential guard, Mustafa Hamdan, 53, security services director Jamil Sayyed, 58, domestic security chief Ali Hajj, 52, and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar, 56.
