Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said on Thursday that the new cabinet should cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which delivered its indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to Lebanon’s Prosecutor General Said Mirza earlier in the day.
“The new Lebanese cabinet is asked to fulfill the demands of the STL and carry out with the arrest warrants issued by the court,” said Geagea from Maarab, adding, “For the first time in Lebanon, justice is being served.”
The LF leader called on all members of the March 14 parties to “act wisely and keep track of the STL probe.”
Geagea slammed the cabinet’s ministerial statement, saying that the newly-formed government has renounced the international tribunal.
“The STL clause [in the ministerial statement of Najib Mikati’s cabinet states]: The cabinet assures it will respect international resolutions and continue the path of the tribunal that was established to achieve justice and righteousness away from politicization and in a way that does not harm Lebanon’s stability and unity,” he said.
“Does achieving justice harm Lebanon’s stability and unity?” asked the LF leader.
He also addressed the recent accusations of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun – an ally of the Iranian- Syrian-backed Hezbollah – that some members of the March 14 alliance are criminals, saying, “Aoun is launching a campaign of unfounded lies.”
“When Aoun was resisting [Syrian tutelage] from the finest castle in France, I was in prison below ground…” said Geagea, adding that “Aoun’s masters” – reference to the Syrian regime – tried but could not accuse the LF leader of corruption.
“Does achieving justice harm Lebanon’s stability and unity?” asked the LF leader.
He also addressed the recent accusations of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun – an ally of the Iranian- Syrian-backed Hezbollah – that some members of the March 14 alliance are criminals, saying, “Aoun is launching a campaign of unfounded lies.”
“When Aoun was resisting [Syrian tutelage] from the finest castle in France, I was in prison below ground…” said Geagea, adding that “Aoun’s masters” – reference to the Syrian regime – tried but could not accuse the LF leader of corruption.
Following its June 13 formation, Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government – in which the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition holds majority – tasked a committee comprised of 10 ministers representing the cabinet’s factions to draft a ministerial statement.
According to Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, the committee finally agreed Wednesday on a posture toward the UN-backed tribunal, which has issued four arrest warrants.
Hezbollah has repeatedly said that the STL is a “US-Zionist plan” that will implicate its members in the 2005 murder, a move the Shia group warned against.
-NOW Lebanon
-NOW Lebanon
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