Court Refuses to Summon Kfoury as Samaha Says 'Jordanian Agents' Took Part in His Arrest
The military court of appeals on Thursday refused the Defense's request to summon the informer Milad Kfoury in ex-minister Michel Samaha's trial, as the latter claimed that “Jordanian security agents” had taken part in his 2012 arrest operation.
“The court dismissed all of the Defense's requests on summoning Milad Kfoury, the bomb technician who inspected the seized explosives, and the investigators who conducted Samaha's first interrogation,” state-run National News Agency reported, saying Samaha's lawyers wanted to summon the aforementioned individuals as witnesses.
Thursday's session was dedicated to hearing the testimonies of two witnesses -- Samaha's driver Fares Barakat and his secretary Gladys Iskandar – as well as questions from the Defense.
According to LBCI television, Samaha claimed during the trial session that “Jordanian security agents” took part in his arrest operation, “after having arrived from Jordan only one day before the arrest.”
The Internal Security Forces “Intelligence Bureau threatened to harm my daughters and stormed my house in a barbaric manner,” LBCI quoted Samaha as saying.
The court then adjourned the trial to April 7 to hear the intervention of the prosecution and the rest of the Defense's pleadings.
The ex-minister was arrested in August 2012 and charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon.
Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison, but in June Lebanon's Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial.
Samaha, a former adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, admitted during his trial that he had transported the explosives from Syria for use in attacks in Lebanon. But he argued he should be acquitted because he was a victim of entrapment by Lebanese security services informer Milad Kfoury.
Y.R.
9 years
It's efficient of the security services to have their informer also be their bomb technician, two jobs for one salary. He's probably so busy he doesn't have time to come to court. Or maybe legal advice has led him to wait for the STL to hear the case, a more friendly venue, neutral, reasonable, legitimate. I think, after berets, Lebanon is recognized around the world for its legal system. Egypt's judges are constantly inspired in their work by the example of Lebanese jurisprudence. You show a Lebanese court a disenfranchised national majority--Lebanon's Shias--and it will reply that it's time for a coffee break and you won't see it again for ten years.
military court must summon Rifi for betrayal rather!