BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said that Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had to some extent recognized the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

“Given that [Hezbollah Secretary-General] Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has already provided the Lebanese judiciary with valuable evidence … doesn’t this mean that he has partially recognized the tribunal?” Jumblatt asked, referring to the U.N.-backed court probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The STL has issued indictments and arrest warrants against four members of Hezbollah who remain at large. The resistance group denies any involvement in the assassination of Hariri and has provided Lebanese authorities with evidence it claims implicates Israel in the killing.

Jumblatt made his comments in an interview with As-Safir newspaper that was published Monday.

The PSP leader also stressed that the government needed to remain committed to the STL “in order to spare Lebanon possible sanctions.”

“Therefore, let’s finance the tribunal and Hezbollah can defend itself as much as it wants and in whatever way it deems [best],” Jumblatt said.

“This issue [STL] is not one that will end today or tomorrow, but may go on for years and years.”