DAMASCUS—Syria has told the U.N. Security Council it wants nothing to do with a planned international court to try suspects in the Rafik al-Hariri case, Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said on Wednesday.
Mekdad told Reuters that the Damascus government should have been consulted on the tribunal, since a U.N. investigation implicated Syrian officials in last year's assassination of the former Lebanese premier.
"Our opinion has not been taken at all in the process to set up the court and what agreements have been reached between Lebanon and the United Nations. It does not concern us as long as we have not been consulted," Mekdad said.
"Setting up the court in this way affirms Syria's view that it has nothing to do with it."
Mekdad said it was premature to decide whether Damascus would hand over to the court Syrian suspects as long as no indictments have been issued. "We are not accused (by the court) and nothing has been asked of us," he said.
The U.N. Security Council approved plans on Tuesday to set up the special court, shortly after the assassination of Pierre Gemayel, an anti-Syrian minister.
The action, in a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General, enables the plans to be submitted to Lebanon's government for formal approval.
The council asked the U.N. "to proceed, together with the government of Lebanon... with the final steps for the conclusion of the agreement".
The U.S.-backed Lebanese cabinet has voted to endorse the tribunal plans despite the resignation of six pro-Syrian Shi'ite ministers this month.
Mekdad said Syria sent a letter to the U.N. and the council on Tuesday outlining its concerns regarding the proposed court and criticising moves to establish it before the investigation into Hariri's killing had been completed.
"If the court is set up this way, it could lead to unacceptable excesses that would compromise the sovereignty of member countries, whether Syria or others," said Mekdad, who is an important player in Syrian foreign policy.
The U.N. investigation said the Hariri assassination would not have been carried out without the knowledge of Syrian security officials. Syria has denied involvement and said any Syrians found involved would be regarded as traitors.
"Syria has declared at the highest level it is completely innocent and had no role in the assassination," Mekdad said.
"This court should not be established until the investigation, in which Syria is cooperating fully, is completed in a precise way," he said.
Serge Brammertz, the Belgian prosecutor heading the U.N. investigation, said in September in a report to the council, which ordered the inquiry, that Syrian cooperation "remains an important component of the ongoing work" of his staff.
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