Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Thursday that the verdict issued against former Information Minister Michel Samaha raises the issue of equality between the Lebanese people before the law and the judiciary.
“Where are the rights of those detained in jails without fair trials, some of them have been arrested for a period of time longer than the sentences to be issued against them, and others detained for just being suspects?” he asked.
“How can we reassure the detainees and their relatives of the integrity of the judicial system?” he added.
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 trial.
Last March, the tribunal decided to separate the trial of detainee Michel Samaha from that of Syrian security Chief General Ali Mamlouk.