Legacy of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon: terrorism as a crime under international customary law, criminal responsibility of legal persons and trial in absentia

The article examines the contributions of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) to the development of international criminal law, highlighting two key areas. First, as the first tribunal in the history of international criminal law that addressed the crime of terrorism, the STL presented its definition under international customary law. Second, it is the first tribunal which established the criminal responsibility of a legal (moral) person. Another distinctive aspect of the STL is its allowance for trials in absentia, a practice the authors believe diverges from prevailing trends and is unlikely to be adopted by other tribunals. Additionally, the STL has further elaborated on procedural offences, which, however, are not the article’s primary focus. The paper also briefly addresses the tribunal’s establishment, which was based on a “dictated agreement,” presenting an intriguing legal issue on its own.