( dpa )- Preparations to establish a tribunal for those responsible for political assassinations in Lebanon have made "good progress," a senior UN official said Thursday.
The tribunal is being set up at The Hague. The selection of judges, the registrar and defence are underway and their names will be made public at an "appropriate time," the official told reporters in a background briefing on progress made so far.
"The process is irreversible and we are making good progress towards fulfilling in a timely manner resolution 1757," which was adopted by the UN Security Council last year to establish the court to try those responsible for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005, the official said.
Since that time, another 22 Lebanese, mostly politicians and journalists, have been killed for their anti-Syrian stances.
The chief investigator of the Hariri murder, Daniel Bellemare of Canada, will also be the prosecutor at the tribunal. Bellemare was appointed in December to replace Serge Brammertz , who became prosecutor of the UN tribunal for crimes in the Bosnian war from 1993 to 1995.
The UN official said governments have voluntarily donated 64.3 per cent of the 35 million dollars needed in the first year to prosecute the murder of Hariri . Lebanon is responsible for 49 per cent of the total 35 million dollars, while other countries are asked to contribute 51 per cent.