Name: REPORT: Judicial Council decides to prosecute Chartouni in absentia
Uploaded: 2017-03-03T16:17:31+00:00
Description: The Judicial Council decided on Friday to prosecute fugitive Habib

2^min

The Judicial Council decided on Friday to prosecute fugitive Habib Shartouni in absentia in the 1982 assassination of Bachir Gemayel.

The court also adjourned the trial until April 28.

After having issued an ultimatum asking Habib Chartouni to turn himself in within 24 hours during the first session, the court decided to consider Chartouni a fugitive and to try him in absentia.

It also decided to start proceedings in absentia against the other suspect, Nabil al-Alam, as no death certificate has been issued for him.

Media reports had previously said that al-Alam had passed away of illness in 2014.

This as protesters from a Syrian Social National Party faction- the July 8 Movement, staged a protest near the Justice Palace in support of Chartouni.

Gemayel was assassinated on September 14, 1982, with 26 others, when a bomb exploded in Kataeb's headquarters in Achrafieh.