Special Tribunal for Lebanon

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is a tribunal of international character.The STL was inaugurated on 1 March 2009 and has four organs:

Chambers
The Office of the Prosecutor
The Defence Office
Registry
The STL's headquarters are on the outskirts of The Hague, the Netherlands and the tribunal also has an office in Beirut, Lebanon.

Its primary mandate is to hold trials for the people accused of carrying out the attack of 14 February 2005 which killed 22 people, including the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, and injured many others.
The tribunal was established following a request by the government of Lebanon to the United Nations. The agreement between Lebanon and the UN was not ratified, and the UN brought its provisions into force through UN Security Council Resolution 1757.

It is an independent, judicial organisation composed of Lebanese and international judges. It is neither a UN court nor part of the Lebanese judicial system. It does, however, try people under Lebanese criminal law. The tribunal is also the first of its kind to deal with terrorism as a discrete crime.

Voluntary contributions make up 51 per cent of its funding and 49 per cent comes from Lebanon.