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 an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Special Tribunal for Lebanon The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a tribunal of international character applying Lebanese criminal law to carry out the investigation and prosecution of those responsib ...

, until 2012.

Canadian legal career

Bellemare holds a law degree from the

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

and completed a Master of Law at the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. 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 The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC; french: Service des poursuites pénales du Canada (SPPC)) was established on December 12, 2006 by the ''Director of Public Prosecutions Act''. A federal agency, the PPSC prosecutes offences on behal ...

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: * Meritorious Civilian Service Award *Meritorious Service Me ...

by the Governor General in 2003.

UN career

Bellemare was assigned by UN

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

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 his country's Minister ...

as the commissioner for the

United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission The United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission or UNIIIC was established on 7 April 2005 by Security Council Resolution 1595 to investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafic Hariri, who had been ki ...

(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 f ...

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 Rafik is the given name of: * Rafik Al-Hariri (1944–2005), business tycoon, former Prime Minister of Lebanon * Rafik Bouderbal (born 1987), French-born Algerian player currently playing for ES Sétif in the Algerian Championnat National * Rafik ...

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

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

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

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

United States diplomatic cables leak The United States diplomatic cables leak, widely known as Cablegate, began on Sunday, 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 d ...

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