BEIRUT: The prosecutor for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon thanked the Lebanese for their support and emphasized his continued belief in the “fight against impunity” in an open letter released Monday, just over a week before he is to resign from his position.

“I want to thank you for your support and trust in carrying out these profoundly important mandates. And for the journey of progress we have traveled together,” Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare wrote in the letter, addressed to “the People of Lebanon.”

Bellemare announced last December that he would not seek to be reappointed as prosecutor for the U.N.-backed court’s second mandate, which is expected to begin in March. As the STL’s first prosecutor, he has led the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri since 2009.

Nearly three years on, Lebanon remains deeply divided over the court, which is denounced by many as a Western tool targeting the resistance and lauded by others as the means to achieve justice in the aftermath of the assassinations of the mid-2000s, a position that Bellemare defended in the letter.

“During my tenure, I often felt that the fight against impunity would be a long and difficult journey. Nonetheless, I continued to be passionate about the mission and about Lebanon,” he wrote. “The people of Lebanon deserve no less. They deserve a society free of impunity, a society based on a culture of accountability.”

Under Bellemare, the focus of the investigation centered on telecommunications records that he alleges implicate four members of Hezbollah in the 2005 attack that killed Hariri and 22 others. The four indicted men remain at large and Bellemare’s successor will take up the case against them when in absentia proceedings begin later this year.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri took to Twitter Monday to reiterate that the court will “try those individuals responsible for the assassination of Rafik Hariri, and not a party or a group or a sect.”

Bellemare admitted the difficulty of his task but wrote that his decision to resign was also not easy.

“While it has been anything but easy, it has been immensely fulfilling both personally and professionally,” he wrote. “It should come as no surprise that my decision not to seek reappointment for a second term was indeed a very difficult one.”

He also thanked the Lebanese authorities for their “continued cooperation and assistance.”

Bellemare did not mention whether he intends to submit an additional indictment in the Hariri case or connected cases before he resigns. Reports of an impending indictment began after the prosecutor met with a number of political and judicial officials on a farewell visit to Lebanon last month.

The court said earlier this month that the process to appoint a new prosecutor was “under way.”

Separately, the STL announced Monday several amendments – most of which relate to the participation of victims in the upcoming trial – to its Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

One amendment allows the pretrial judge to decide on the grouping of victims of the 2005 attack who wish to participate in the trial. It is possible, for example, that individuals belonging to the same family could be considered as one group.