UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday said that he regrets that the registrar of the United
Nations-backed tribunal set up to try the perpetrators of political killings in Lebanon is stepping down.
But he congratulated him on his appointment as the head of an organization focusing on transitional justice.
Ban, in a statement issued here by his spokesman, said that the registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, David Tolbert, seeks
resignation as he intends to become president of a leading global rights organization in New York.
The secretary-general received the resignation on Jan. 6 and " regrets the departure of Mr. Tolbert, who has decided to return to the United States to pursue his career," said the statement.
"The secretary-general congratulates Mr. Tolbert on his new appointment as President of the International Center for Transitional Justice and is deeply grateful to him for the services he has rendered to the organization," the statement said.
During Tolbert's tenure, which began in August 2009, the Special Tribunal has made "excellent progress," Ban said, noting his achievements which include a solid administrative infrastructure that supported future judicial activities with key measures undertaken for witness protection and court management.
"He has steered through the Tribunal's budget for 2010 and raised a significant amount of the necessary funding," the statement read.
The President of the Special Tribunal, Judge Antonio Cassese and the Prosecutor, David Bellemare, have paid tribute to Tolbert's leadership as well as the "contribution he has made to the efficient and effective functioning of the Special Tribunal," the statement said.
Prior to his appointment, Tolbert served in various capacities at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, including deputy chief prosecutor from 2004 to 20008 in the Office of the Prosecutor, deputy registrar from 2003 to 2004 and in Chambers as the chef de cabinet to the President from 1998 to 1999.
The resignation will be effective March 1, 2010 with Ban intending to appoint an acting Registrar as an "interim measure to ensure the continued smooth functioning of the Registry and the Special Tribunal," the statement said.