The Future Movement held a ceremony at Beirut”s Manara Stadium on Monday to commemorate the assassination one year ago of MP Walid Eido.
The bomb attack that killed Eido, who chaired Parliament”s Defense Committee, also claimed the lives of his son, two bodyguards and six civilians.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora issued a statement on Monday that focused largely on the anniversary of the Eido assassination. Siniora said that "Beirut was targeted by a criminal act when [Eido] was murdered … We will not abandon our pursuit of the perpetrators, no matter what the cost, what the political changes and how much time is required."
"One year ago, today, the long arm of crime struck out against one of the knights of truth, the Beirut MP and legal mind who sought the interest of his country and his capital – the struggler, Walid Eido," the prime minister added.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said that "a great number of political truths have been uncovered in the year since the assassination of [Eido], and we have no doubt that the identity of the killer has remained the same over the past three years," a clear reference to Syria, which has denied involvement in the string of assassinations that have rocked Lebanon since the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri 2005.
During the ceremony, Zaher Eido, son of the slain MP, said that he would "like to see the creation of the international tribunal [to try suspects in th Hariri and other cases] in order to ease the worries of the departed”s loved ones with respect to truth and justice."
Beirut MP Mohammad Amin Itani, speaking on behalf of Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri, said the "aim behind the killing was the collapse of the Taif Accord," adding that "armed with the weapons of principle, we will triumph over the weapons of violence."
March 14 stalwart and former MP Fares Soueid used his speech at the ceremony to criticize Hizbullah over the deadly that broke out in early May.
"Defined as a militia, you hid behind the slogan of resistance, but your true colors were shown on May 7, 2008," Soueid told the audience. "We call for government predicated on policies, not electoral needs – for the state of Lebanon, not the arena of Lebanon."