# Foundational texts — STL The instruments that may be cited from project knowledge when present. ## 1. The UN-Lebanon Agreement (23 January / 6 February 2007) **Full title:** Agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese Republic on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for Lebanon. **Signed:** New York, 23 January 2007 (UN side); Beirut, 6 February 2007 (Lebanese side). **Entered into force:** **10 June 2007** — by operation of UN Security Council Resolution 1757, after the Lebanese parliamentary ratification deadline passed without action. **Function:** establishes the STL as a bilateral arrangement between the UN and Lebanon, annexes the Statute, and sets out the relationship between the STL and Lebanese national courts. **Key articles:** - Art. 1 — Establishment - Art. 2 — Composition (principal organs, judges, Prosecutor, Registrar, Defence Office) - Art. 4 — Cooperation with the Special Tribunal - Art. 8 — Seat (subsequently fixed at Leidschendam by separate seat agreement) - Art. 16 — Privileges and immunities - Art. 17 — Effect on national criminal law - Art. 19 — Entry into force ## 2. UN Security Council Resolution 1757 (2007) **Adopted:** 30 May 2007, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. **Function:** mandated that the Agreement and the Statute would enter into force on 10 June 2007 unless the Lebanese Republic notified the UN otherwise (and Lebanon did not). This is the **legal basis** for the STL's establishment in the absence of Lebanese parliamentary ratification, and a controversial use of Chapter VII powers. **Annexes:** - The Agreement - The Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ## 3. The Statute of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon **Annexed to** the UN-Lebanon Agreement, in turn annexed to Resolution 1757. **Key articles:** - **Article 1 — Jurisdiction.** Persons responsible for the attack of 14 February 2005 resulting in the death of Hariri and others; and for "other attacks that occurred in Lebanon between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005, or any later date decided by the Parties and with the consent of the Security Council, are connected in accordance with the principles of criminal justice and are of a nature and gravity similar to the attack of 14 February 2005". The **connection test** specifies criminal intent (motive), purpose, nature of victims, modus operandi, and perpetrators. - **Article 2 — Applicable criminal law.** Lebanese criminal law, specifically: - the Lebanese Criminal Code provisions on terrorism (Art. 314), illicit associations (Art. 335), crimes and offences against human life and personal integrity (Art. 547 et seq.) - the **Law of 11 January 1958 on Increasing the Punishments of Sedition, Civil War and Inter-Confessional Strife** - Lebanese criminal procedure provisions (subject to STL Rules of Procedure) - **Article 3 — Individual criminal responsibility.** Commits, participates as accomplice, organises or directs others, contributes to the commission of crime in common purpose, superior responsibility — the modes of liability framework, drawing on the ad hoc tribunals' jurisprudence but with refinements. - **Article 4 — Concurrent jurisdiction.** STL has primacy over national courts of Lebanon; STL may at any stage of proceedings formally request a Lebanese court to defer to its competence. - **Article 5 — Non bis in idem.** No person tried before national court of Lebanon for acts already tried by STL. - **Article 16 — Rights of the accused.** Full procedural guarantees consistent with international human rights law. - **Article 17 — Rights of victims.** Where personal interests of victims are affected, the Tribunal shall permit their views and concerns to be presented and considered at stages of the proceedings determined to be appropriate by the Pre-Trial Judge or Chamber, in a manner not prejudicial or inconsistent with the rights of the accused and a fair and impartial trial. - **Article 22 — Trial in absentia.** The Tribunal shall conduct trial proceedings in the absence of the accused if he or she: (a) has expressly waived his or her right to be present; (b) has not been handed over to the Tribunal by the State authorities; or (c) has absconded or otherwise cannot be found. Conditions on the absence procedure are set out; reopening on subsequent surrender is provided for under Statute Art. 22(3) and Rule 106 RPE. - **Article 25 — Compensation to victims.** STL does not order reparations; victims may pursue claims in Lebanese national courts on the basis of the STL judgment. - **Article 26 — Appellate proceedings.** Appeals Chamber. The STL Statute is briefer than the Rome Statute and structurally closer to the ICTY/ICTR/SCSL Statutes, with the hybrid feature that substantive criminal law is Lebanese. ## 4. Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the STL **Adopted** by the judges on **20 March 2009**. **Amended numerous times** during the operation of the Tribunal. **The revision in force at the date of a cited decision controls** — a 2014 decision applies the RPE then in force, not necessarily the final version. **Particularly relevant Rules:** - **Rule 86** — Victim participation in the proceedings (Victim-Participating-in-Proceedings or VPP) - **Rule 105 bis** — Sentencing - **Rule 106** — Procedure on review when a person tried in absentia is subsequently arrested or surrenders - **Rule 158-176** — Trial procedure - **Rule 176 bis** — The procedure (sui generis) used in the 2011 Interlocutory Decision on the Applicable Law ## Working with foundational texts in project knowledge Recommended workflow: 1. Add the **Statute of the STL** to project knowledge. 2. Add the **Rules of Procedure and Evidence** (the specific revision relevant to the work — for the Ayyash et al. Trial Judgment of 18 August 2020, the version then in force). 3. Add the **2011 Interlocutory Decision on the Applicable Law** if the work touches the customary-international-law-terrorism debate (this is technically a Tribunal decision rather than a foundational text, but in scholarly practice it is often treated as a foundational instrument for STL jurisprudence). If not in project knowledge, retrieve from stl-tsl.org or legal-tools.org.