Political prisoners. Good to have you with us one of the been accused of murdering former lebanese Prime Minister rafik hariri 15 years ago has been found guilty the un backed court in the netherlands ruled that hezbollah a member was involved in the killing a court acquitted 3 other defendants the former sunni leader was killed along with 21 other people in a bomb attack in beirut in 2005 the International Force in the hague tried 4 suspects and if they are members of the shiite militant Group Hezbollah which is now part of lebanons government the Islamist Group denies any involvement the verdict was supposed to be given at the beginning of this month was delayed because of the tetley explosion at beiruts airport. Earlier we spoke today correspondent whos been following the trial from brussels he told us more about the man whos been convicted. The 56 year old terry has been convicted in absentia and the judge just said they were satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he possessed one of the 6 mobile phones used by the Assassination Team and now the interesting detail here is that the evidence also established that mr ayyash had affiliations to his dialogue but despite the fact that he belonged to a smaller rankings and despite the fact that the court also established that the assassination has been a political act the courts did not point to the people behind the assassination and so the court established that there is no evidence that the leadership of the iran backed shiite muslim Group Hezbollah or the Syrian Government are behind the attack or where or even involved. That was. In brussels well joining us now here in the studio is from d. W. Arabic good to have you with us. Youre from lebanon back in 2005 that bomb attack killed 22 people with scores injured what does this verdict today mean for their families its a long awaited its a long awaited investigation process the class that 15 years and that cost the living needs tates more than 1. 00 bill proximately 1000000000. 00 so that was also definitely being a way to tour for such a long time weve heard that heavy duty of the son of a Prime Minister difficulty the Prime Minister what he said right after the verdict he said that this now we know the truth and now we wait for justice to be served and by justice he means of course having the person whos found guilty of this being sentenced and this person who belongs to hezbollah. Has vanished like a ghost no one knows where he is and hezbollah has repeatedly said that they will not hand him over so now the question is what hezbollah do to make justice be served in love and on truth is one thing justice is of course quite another how is the news of this verdict going down in lebanon and in beirut in particular or are people there are simply too distracted by their current crises the lebanese have been dealing with multiple crisis from more than a year and this verdict comes at a time when they do it is dealing is busy dealing with picking itself up from the explosion that took place 2 weeks ago when in fact the explosion the verdict was delayed 2 weeks due to the explosion that took place so they live in these are busy picking up their homes finding shelters after they see their houses have been bombed theyre also trying to deal with a huge economy crisis and a huge failure of the banking system. Their money is trapped and the banks they dont have access to them on top of that the coronavirus weve witnessed a surge in the numbers of korra positive viruses in the last few days almost 40500 daily cases and thats a big number for small country like lebanon so the lebanese already have a lot of their fates to handle but thats not their top priority at the moment however weve seen people who support. A party or party and people who support hezbollah were kind of waiting to see what kind of reactions they will have although all major parties hope have called for people to calm down and await for any official statements that come out ok as well as leadership was not implicated in this ruling but the one person who was found guilty is considered to be a hezbollah member has not been very cooperative with this trial to say the least do you think that this verdict will have any impact on hezbollahs standing in Lebanon Hezbollah has accused the court of the International Court of being politicized from the beginning he called it israeli american and various occasions has on the seller has said that the results of this of this verdict do not relate to them and theyre not really waiting for them d to happen because they dont consider them to be transparent however the big question is at the moment what hezbollah do because the verdict apparently accuse only one person and acquitted 3 other members of hezbollah so now the question is how was hezbollah to react to that what kind of position will it have and will this incident be a kind of turning point making the lebanese all come together at this very specific difficult for in that lebanon is going through all will its or more violence thats the question well thank you very much for your insights that was. From our herb acceptance thank you terry. Now lets look at some other stories making headlines around the world this hour gunfire has been heard at an army base outside the mali in capital bamako and what appears to be a mutiny and the west african countrys military reports say the army has arrested several top politicians Government Employees have evacuated their workplaces to seek say. In the United States the Democratic Party is holding its National Convention as a Virtual Event for the 1st time due to the coronavirus pandemic it kicked off with a rousing speech from former 1st Lady Michelle obama the democrats will formally nominate joe biden as their candidate for president in the bamber election. Authorities on the Indian Ocean Isle and moriches have arrested the captain of a japanese own ship which ran aground off the island spewing tons of oil into Pristine Waters the spill spread over a vast area of endangered corals fish and other marine life in what some scientists have called the war countrys worst ecological disaster. German chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the governments in better routes to avoid violence and start a National Dialogue with the opposition that says the country continues to be gripped by unrest in the aftermath of president lukashenko is widely disputed election win heres what i have to say about the situation earlier today. Tomorrow at the European Council will hold a Video Conference on data roots i spoke with russian president putin today i once again make clear that there must be freedom of expression the freedom to protest the prisoners must be released under house to be a National Dialogue that enables the situation to be resolved peacefully and ballerinas we will discuss that further tomorrow. Just americas comments come amid an ongoing standoff between lucas and he government protesters the longtime ruler has been resisting calls to step aside but angry citizens are showing theyre not backing down. There the pressure on president Alexander Lukashenko is growing and the resistance is growing bolder. This video shows a Heated Exchange with striking workers at a truck to factory young men. Of. The dont worry i will not beat you up it is not in my interest but if somebody provokes something here we will sort it out the hard way put the phone down. Tempers and deliveries are running high on both sides and europes embattled strongman is facing opposition he isnt in. A nationwide strike was attended by thousands some of whom booed and heckled the president. At one event on monday lucas sankoh told the worker that new elections were possible but only after the countrys another referendum on a new constitution. His critics say its a bit to buy time. More than a week after the controversial election and she government protests show no sign of letting up a good thing in the eyes of the countrys exiled Opposition Leader he conveyed words of encouragement from her jailed husband in a new video message. My husbands our gates asks me to convey his words to you or he and other Political Prisoners are in jail but also that he asks you to move forward. Not just sit back but you do everything to live in this country for life. The people who are filling the streets also have the support of many in the international community. Tolerating dissent may have to become part of the nixon venue because frank has a new reality. A spring in russia analyst constantine egret in moscow now constantine do you see any strategy behind the way that president lucas shank i was responding to these unprecedented protests well there is an instinctive strategy definitely in this is to basically buy time when he talks about the constitution of which she didnt speak of and 5 days ago hes talking about this and this discussions about something that will provide for a possibility of him to stay in power and i think that this he will find some support for that from mr putin when he spoke today to chancellor merkel and to the e. U. Need only shut they all talked about dialogue and i think that there is a different understanding of dialogue in moscow in minsk on one side and the lead in paris and brussels on the other what the e. U. Means by dialogue is some kind of productive dialogue that will bring some kind of resolution and putin that look at schenkel think that dialogue is just a device for them to go on talking about something without releasing power and without actually changing something on the ground so there is a strategy where it will leave this and other question. By this russia and a year have a stake in what becomes of belarus look at is looking to moscow for support but do you think that leaders have any leverage in the situation. They do but the question is whether they will be great if you use it and i think that is. This cautious outreach to putin will only make putin think that the e. U. Is not that interested and this is afraid of him theyd make him a player in what is basically about that real issue and i think that putin will use it he is probably very keen to look at shankar to exit in one piece but hes even more keen on keeping control and probably actually strengthen his control of bill roost if dos he has money for that he has a Propaganda Machine he has huge intelligence separate us in place and the biller says a member of several treaties to which russia is also a signatory which binds gallops to russia and the russian economy is linked to to russia so i think that putin will try and play all cards to on the one hand prevent some kind of big bloodshed because it will badly really reflect on him but on the other hand to keep here are they the European Union and they and he is calculation is essentially that eventually the e. U. Will lose interest and valorous it didnt have much lets admit it just before the elections now the exiled Opposition Leader. Taken off scios says shes willing to lead belarus is there any indication that she might get a chance to do that. Well there is a chance that there is always a chance of politics but the question is how she can cross the border from a lethal any or to send and achieve some kind of Political Agency in in minsk for now we have opposition korda Nation Council which is deputising for her but look its a good doesnt look like is inclined to recognize it so it will be streamlined difficult its always difficult to basically lead a Political Movement from emigration very few of the it has succeeded in that and knows about it and instinctively it will make Everything Possible to prevent a kind of scare from returning to belarus and he has a capacity to do it he controls the board not the opposition constant saying thank you as always for your insights that was russia analyst constantine in moscow. Youre watching g. W. News coming up next in business a Small Company in government is helping local businesses to cash in on recycling they can simply send a message by and their Plastic Waste is picked up and paid for. About him coming up next indeed of your business with christoph cocoa ill be back at the top the next hour with more thanks for being with us. Where i come from we have to fight for a free press and was born and raised in a new town and the painter should put just one to the shadow and a few in his favorites when official information as a journalist i have worked on the street for many cantrips and their problems are almost the same 14 the social inequality a lack of the freedom of the press