United Nation
U.N. ends questioning Syrians over Hariri killing
By Reuters
Dec 7, 2005, 18:15

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. investigators completed questioning five Syrian officials in Vienna on Wednesday in connection with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri this year, diplomatic sources said.

Two of the Syrians were questioned at U.N. offices in Vienna on Monday and returned to Damascus. The three others were questioned on Wednesday and were expected to return home the same day, the sources said.

Syria, which denies any role in the killing in February, agreed to let international investigators question the men at U.N. offices in the Austrian capital after winning guarantees from permanent U.N. Security Council member Russia that they would be allowed to return to Damascus.

The Security Council has warned Syria to cooperate with the probe or face unspecified action that could lead to sanctions.

An interim report in October by the chief U.N. investigator, Detlev Mehlis, suggested the February 14 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 other people in Beirut was planned by top Syrian security officials in Damascus and their Lebanese allies.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told France 3 television on Monday he had "no doubt" that Syria would be proven innocent of involvement in Hariri's killing.

Diplomats said the five questioned in Vienna included Syria's former intelligence chief in Lebanon, Lt. Gen. Rustom Ghazali, before Damascus withdrew forces from its small neighbor in April after 29 years.

U.N. investigators have interviewed more than 500 people over the killing and Mehlis, a German prosecutor, has said his team might ask to question more Syrian officials.

On Mehlis's recommendation, Lebanon has charged four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals with murder.

Lebanon's government has asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend the mandate for the inquiry for six months beyond the December 15 deadline and be open to further extensions.

The assassination of Hariri, a strong opponent of Syrian control over Lebanon, stirred an international outcry and weeks of Lebanese street protests that brought about Syria's pullout. It had sent forces into Lebanon in 1976 to quell a civil war.



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