UN: Former Lebanon PM Hariri killed by criminal network

Former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated by a "criminal network," according to a report filed Friday by the head of a United Nations team charged with investigating the killing.

Daniel Bellemare said in his first report to the UN Security Council on Friday that evidence indicates the so-called Hariri Network existed before his assassination on Feb. 14, 2005.

Syrian intelligence was often accused of being behind the murder, and while Damascus denied the charges, the attack nonetheless prompted Syria to end its long-time military presence in the country.

Bellemare said the evidence also indicates it conducted surveillance of the former premier, and that at least part of the network continued to operate after he was killed along with 22 others in a bombing in Beirut.

The former Canadian prosecutor said the commission investigating Hariri's assassination "can now confirm, on the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in concert to carry out the assassination of Rafik Hariri."

The UN team found that the criminal network was also involved in the assassinations of other high-profile Lebanese figures.

	Demonstrators marking the third anniversary of Hariri's assassination in Beirut last month. (AP)