The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Gibran Tueni, Mr. Walid Eido, Mr. Antoine Ghanem and Mr. Pierre Gemayel, all members of the National Assembly of Lebanon who were assassinated, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/187/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 186th session (April 2010),

Recalling the following:

• Tueni, Mr. Eido, Mr. Ghanem and Mr. Gemayel were all outspoken critics of the Syrian Arab Republic and its allies in Lebanon and were all killed between 2005 and 2007 in car-bomb attacks, except for Mr. Gemayel, who was gunned down;

• Following Mr. Tueni's assassination, the National Assembly associated itself with the court action taken by the public prosecutor in his case,

Recalling that the International Independent Investigation Commission was succeeded by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was entrusted with trying those responsible for the assassination of Mr. Rafiq Hariri; the Tribunal started its work in March 2009 and may decide to examine other attacks perpetrated in Lebanon between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005; crimes committed after 12 December 2005 may be eligible for inclusion in the Tribunal’s jurisdiction should the Government of Lebanon and the United Nations so decide with the consent of the Security Council,

Considering that the Speaker of the National Assembly, in a meeting with the Secretary General on the occasion of the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (Geneva, 19‑21 July 2010), affirmed that the role of the National Assembly was limited in the case of the murdered parliamentarians as the matters were sub judice,

Considering finally that it appears that, in late September 2010, the National Assembly was unable to reach agreement to approve its contribution to the budget for 2010 and 2011 for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is set at 49 per cent of the Tribunal's budget,

Bearing in mind that Lebanon is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is thus bound to guarantee the right to life, and hence to identify those responsible for the murder of the parliamentarians concerned and bring them to justice,

1. Regrets the absence of any information on file regarding steps taken by the Lebanese authorities, in the one year and a half that they have again been solely responsible for the investigations and proceedings, to identify and prosecute those who murdered the parliamentarians concerned; wishes once again to receive publicly available information about the stage reached in the investigations and progress made towards identifying the presumed culprits;

2. Reaffirms that the National Assembly has a special responsibility for and interest in ensuring that justice is done in this case; reiterates its wish to receive details as to whether the National Assembly has associated itself, as it did in the case of Mr. Tueni, with the court action by the public prosecutor in the other three cases, and if so with what result;

3. Stresses that the Special Tribunal may well in time also examine the case of the four murdered parliamentarians; trusts therefore that the National Assembly will make every effort to provide the necessary political and financial support to the Tribunal so that it can carry out its mandate effectively and, finally, contribute to the pursuit of justice in this case; wishes to receive further information on any decision taken by the National Assembly in this respect;

4. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities and the competent judicial authorities of Lebanon and to the source;

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 124th IPU Assembly (April 2011).

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