The Military Court of Cassation decided Thursday to release former Minister Michel Samaha on bail reaching an amount of LBP 150 million, Samaha’s defense attorney Sakher al-Hashem reported.
“The decision cannot be appealed in any way,” al-Hachem said.
The court’s panel approved the release after Judge Tony Lattouf considered that Samaha had served his sentence, adding that he must attend the upcoming trial sessions.
In this context, Samaha would be banned from traveling and giving any statement to media outlets.
In May 2015, the trial of former Information Minister Michel Samaha ended at the Military Court, and a verdict was issued sentencing him to four and a half years in prison, and stripping him of all civil rights.
The verdict also stipulates that his years of detention would be counted from the day he was incarcerated, leaving him to serve the remaining 11 months in prison according to Samaha’s defense attorney.
Samaha, who had close ties with the Syrian regime, was arrested in August 2012 for plotting attacks in Lebanon along with two Syrian officials.
His trial started in June 2013 but had been repeatedly postponed for failing to summon Ali Mamlouk and a Syrian colonel identified only by his first name, Adnan, the cases of whom were included in Samaha’s case.
Last March, the tribunal decided to separate the trial of detainee Michel Samaha from that of Syrian security Chief General Ali Mamlouk.