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Geagea's Freedom
Set as Precondition for
Lowering Curtain on Civil
war
May 22, 2003
Calls have rung out loud
from an AUB seminar for
the release of Lebanese
Forces commander Samir
Geagea as a precondition
for a national reconciliation
that would genuinely lower
the curtain on the1975-1990
Lebanese civil war.
The behests were made
by attorney at law Edmond
Rizk, a former Phalange
Party member of Parliament,
and An Nahar's editorialist
George Nassif during a
debate held at the American
University of Beirut's
Assembly Hall Wednesday,
An Nahar reported on Thursday.
The two speakers accused
the current regime in
Lebanon of laying down
the foundations for a
new civil war "as
to take us all to the
grave." They also
agreed that Geagea's 9-year
solitary confinement in
an underground cell at
the defense ministry compound
in Yarze must be brought
to an end.
"It is true that
Geagea would not be able
to reconstruct Lebanon
single handed, but its
also true the Lebanon
cannot be rebuilt without
him," said Rizk,
a Geagea defense attorney
during trials in which
the LF commander was convicted
of an assortment of charges
with an overall incarceration
verdicts of 120 years.
"Geagea is deprived
of his rights as a prisoner,
as a citizen and as a
human being," Rizk
said. "His freedom
is a basic precondition
to create a strong state
whose national flag is
the only banner fluttering
on its territory and which
is not subject to external
intervention to appoint
its presidents governments
and parliament members,"
Rizk said.
Nassif, in turn, said
there are four still impending
files without the closure
of which the civil war
would not be closed once
and for all. These files
are the full return of
war-displaced refugees,
the determination of the
fate of missing Lebanese
n Lebanon and Syria, the
exile of Gen. Aoun and
Geagea's plight.
"Those who came to
power in the name of the
Taif accord have pinned
the horror of the war
on Geagea's head, creating
a case of enormous injustice,"
Nassif added.
It was announced at the
end of the debate that
nearly 60,000 Lebanese
have signed a petition
calling for Geagea's release.
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