Law imposed by Syrian tutelage responsible for prolonged incarceration of generals
Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra told ANB TV Monday that labeling that the arrest of the four generals, who were held in connection with the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as political was inaccurate and that their arrest was based on the recommendation of former Commissioner of the UN International Independent Investigative Commission Detlev Mehlis.
Zahra said that according to Article 108 of the Lebanese constitution, the arrest had no deadline after which suspects would have to either face charges or be released.
He added that “those who are complaining of the extended arrest period” of the generals “are the same people who forced the parliament during” the Syrian occupation of Lebanon to amend Article 108, in which the deadline of any arrest was canceled.
Zahra also told ANB that there were differences in the prosecution process between the Lebanese and the international judicial systems. He said that the March 14 alliance’s call for international justice was an attempt to “seek the highest forms of justice, which could not be influenced by political interferences or pressures.”
The MP refused to compare Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to Jamil al-Sayyed, who is one of the released generals. Zahra said that they called for the release of Geagea to finalize the national reconciliation following the civil war, “but unfortunately it was not completed, because there were some people,” a reference to the March 8 coalition, “who had projects different from state building.”
“The confinement conditions of the four general cannot be compared to those of Samir Geagea,” who suffered grim conditions in prison, “or of any person in custody in either Lebanese or Syrian prisons,” Zahra added.
He said that the majority did not seek revenge or politicize the judicial system, stressing that the practices of the Syrian rule in Lebanon will not be repeated.
He also said that the attacks on state institutions were unacceptable, “and all institutions must be preserved.”
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan “Nasrallah’s speech on Friday showed his position on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Lebanese judicial system in general, and we do not accept his position. If Nasrallah and others are intent on using force to impose their views, then this is another thing,” Zahra said.
He added that the attacks on the state and its institutions could not be good for the Lebanese consensus, the national dialogue roundtable or the state building project.