Hezbollah has for the last several months attempted to interfere with the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is expected to enter its trial phase in January 2014. The tribunal will try four Hezbollah members in absentia on charges related to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed along with 23 other people in a 2005 Beirut car bombing.
In January a Lebanese newspaper linked the group to the publication of confidential details regarding 17 witnesses thought likely to testify, and in April hackers reportedly posted the names of 200 additional potential witnesses on the compromised server of the pro-Hariri Al-Mustaqbal newspaper.
Now Hezbollah’s activities – what one Lebanese outlet called “some interferences” by the defense teams – have ended with the resignation of STL head judge Robert Roth. The judge will not preside over the trial when it finally begins.
As Lebanon expert Tony Badran, has had occasion to emphasize, Hezbollah’s repeated moves to undermine Lebanese and international institutions are in tension with claims made by some foreign policy analysts defending the group as a Lebanese organization advancing Lebanese interests.