Assessing the Compliance of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon with International Legal Standards: Which Justice and for Whom?

The present work examines the main legal features of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and their compliance with international legal standards as the principle of legality and fair trial. The first chapter offers a brief overview of the historical and political background which preceded and followed Hariri’s assassination, up to the establishment of the STL. The second chapter offers a critical examination of those legal features which risk to constitute a solid ground to raise defence challenges which ultimately compromise the possibility of the Tribunal to achieve its aim. The third chapter gives account of the political challenges the Tribunal has to face, challenges which contribute to undermine its legitimacy and thus the possibility to meet its aim of delivering justice. Each chapter helps in understanding the complexities outlined in the others and it is thus instrumental to an overall assessment of the Tribunal. The lessons learnt from the STL are significant both for Lebanon and for the system of international criminal justice more broadly.