Azerbaijan, Baku, March 3 / Trend , U.Sadigova/
The investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri will be held exclusively by an international commission, Al Mustaqbal coalition head Saad Hariri said.
Al Mustaqbal holds a majority in the Lebanese parliament.
"The commission, established by a UN Security Council resolution, is interested in preserving the confidentiality of the investigation," Hariri's son Saad Hariri said in an interview with Trend .
Hariri twice served as prime minister of Lebanon. He was killed in a terrorist act on Feb. 14, 2005. High-ranking Syrian special services officials remain key suspects in the assassination, as Hariri opposed Damascus' influence on Lebanon's domestic politics and the 30-year presence of Syrian troops in the country.
The UN Special Tribunal of Lebanon launched operations in Leidschendam in the Netherlands on March 1 to uncover the organizers of the assassination. The tribunal is headed by Canada's former Deputy Prosecutor General Daniel Bellemare. Earlier the investigation was led by an international independent commission headed by International Criminal Tribunal Prosecutor for the Former Yugoslavia Serge Brammertz.
Saad Hariri said he would not interfere with the investigation, as it will be held by representatives of the international commission.
"This is not in my authority or anyone else's," he said.
The investigation involved only a judicial commission. The case is based on concrete evidence revealed by the commission's investigators from different countries, he said.
Hariri was the sixth high-ranking Lebanese official killed within the last 10 years. According to the special commission, charges will not be lifted against Damascus until new facts are uncovered.
Last week, the Lebanese court released three of 7 suspects who were in custody, the Lebanese Wataniya news agency said.
Two Lebanese nationals - brothers Ahmed and Mahmoud Abdel Aal - and Syrian Ibrahim Jarjoura were among the released suspects. The Abdel Aal brothers were arrested in October 2005 on charges of obstructing the investigation. Jarjura was arrested in January 2006 for perjury.
The agency did not report on what grounds they were released.
Four Lebanese generals are still in custody. At the time of the assassination, they occupied leadership positions in Lebanon's security agencies. Presidential Protection Service former head Mustafa Hamdan, Military Intelligence former Commander Raymond Azar, as well as Internal Security Services leaders Jamil Sayyid and Ali Haj were arrested in 2005 on suspicion of involvement in the assassination. During the four-year investigation, the defendants were not directly charged with the organization or execution of the assassination.
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