Special Tribunal Is an Achievement for Lebanon
Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said that the Special Tribunal set to begin on March 1 was an achievement “for Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”
Following a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the Grand Serail on Wednesday, Adwan said, “Everyone knows that using political assassinations as means to alter the political situation in Lebanon is no longer tolerated.”
Asked about the 2009 draft budget issue, he said that “A compromise has yet to be reached on the budget issue, because Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is asking that the laws that apply to this matter are enforced, and a solution should be reached according to them.”
On the release of three people, who were detained on charges that they were connected with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, he said, “we respect the judiciary, and the matter is its responsibility.”
Asked about the Displaced Fund, Adwan said that Siniora had informed him that “part of the necessary finances would be secured to assist the displaced [during the civil war] to return to their villages, and added, “I consider this an important step that we had demanded in the past.”
On the Maronite church’s decision to excommunicate those who insult the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Bkerki and the archbishops, Adwan said, “the Church and the patriarch are of the highest priority, and we as Christians and Maronites are fully aware of Bkerki’s history of actions.”
He called for the end “of insulting the patriarch, and the preservation of him as a national symbol of independence.”