Daniel Bellemare (born 1952) is a Canadian prosecutor. After retiring from a long career in the Canadian legal system, Bellemare was named as a prosecutor for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Special Tribunal for Lebanon The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, was a tribunal of international character that was active between 2009 and 2023. It applied Lebanese criminal law under the authority of ...

, until 2012.

Canadian legal career

Bellemare holds a law degree from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

and completed a Master of Law at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. He was called to the bar in the province of Quebec in 1976. He has served in various Canadian government positions, including Deputy Attorney General and Special Adviser to the Deputy Minister of Justice. He is also the longest-serving head of the Federal Prosecution Service in Canadian history. Bellemare was awarded the

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: Singapore *Pingat Jasa Gemilang, or Meritorious Services Me ...

by the Governor General in 2003.

UN career

Bellemare was assigned by

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

as the commissioner for the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) on November 19, 2007, replacing

Serge Brammertz Serge Brammertz (born 17 February 1962) is a Belgian prosecutor, academic and jurist. He serves as the chief prosecutor for the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) since 2016. He also served as the chief prosecutor ...

of Belgium. In November 2008, he was named chief prosecutor of the

, mandated with solving the 14 February 2005 murder of Lebanese Prime Minister

Rafik Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenu ...

. Bellemare's performance with the S.T.L. was criticized by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

in a November 2010 report. The prosecutor was also quoted in the 2010

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United States diplomatic cables leak An incident, commonly referred to as Cablegate, began on 28 November 2010 when WikiLeaks began releasing classified cables that had been sent to the U.S. State Department by 274 of its consulates, embassies, and diplomatic missions around ...

scandal, where he expressed reservations with the U.S. Governments' approach to the Hariri investigation in a 2008 cable, saying "if the US doesn't help me, who will?"

Publications

Bellemare has published several law-related works in French. ''How to Testify in Court: The Police Officer's Testimony'' (1985) has been translated to English.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellemare, Daniel 20th-century Canadian lawyers 1952 births Living people University of Ottawa alumni Université de Montréal alumni Special Tribunal for Lebanon prosecutors Lawyers in Quebec 21st-century Canadian lawyers