World 24/06/1995 at 5:57 The fall of a warlord in Lebanon. Accused of massacres, Samir Geagea, former head of the Lebanese Forces, awaiting the verdict of justice.
Christophe Boltanski
The Lebanese judiciary must now make its verdict in the trial against
Samir Geagea, former head of the Christian Lebanese Forces militia, and accused of organizing the murder in October 1990 , one of his main rivals in the Christian camp, Dany Chamoun, killed with his entire family.
June 13, 1978, a group of 300 Christian militiamen have launched an attack of Ehden, the summer residence of the former head of the Lebanese state Suleiman Frangieh. During the fighting, his son Tony Franjieh, 36, wife of the latter, Vera, 32, daughter Jehane, just three years, the maid and the driver, were killed. Bashir Gemayel is, head of the Lebanese Forces militia, who ordered the attack to "punish" the pro-Syrian leanings fringes, a large clan Christian North. To direct the operation, he chose a young internal medicine, son of a corporal, already dubbed El-Hakim, the "Doctor" by his fellow soldiers: Samir Geagea. The two organizers of the killings will explain later that they were unaware of the presence of the heir of the clan Frangieh inside the palace. Samir Geagea, who was wounded at the first exchange of fire, barely disguise the fate he reserved for Tony: "Anyway, it could not fail to be killed one day or another," says he later (1).
The fall from Ehden hit the country in amazement. For the first time, leaders Christians massacred them.
With this bloodbath, Samir Geagea links its fate to that of Bashir Gemayel.
When the second succeeds in establishing itself as the leading Maronite leader, Geagea naturally becomes his military commander. Bashir, as a cadet of Gemayel, knows he must if he wants to disrupt the tradition achieve its ends. To seize the Phalange, the old party founded by his father in the 30s on the model of European fascist movements, the young Bashir has created his own militia in 1976: Lebanese Forces (LF). Geagea naturally became the military leader. In August 1982, Bashir was elected President of the Republic, in the shadow of Israeli tanks entered the country. But three weeks later, he died in a bomb attack. His death leaves
Maronite militiamen orphans. Amine Gemayel succeeded his brother. He was elected head of state. But he is wary of FL, which make him well. At the same time, the Israelis, having served in Beirut, trying to extricate the Lebanese quagmire. In September 1983, they evacuated nearly without warning the Chouf mountains, leaving facing Christians and Druze. The Lebanese Forces, arrived in the van of the enemy, broke the atrocities by their fragile sectarian balance that had survived to war. At the head of his men, Samir Geagea is trying to defend the town of Deir el-Kmar, against fighters Druze Walid Jumblatt, then stalled. Chouf Christians fleeing in droves. After those of the mountain, it's time for Christians to take the coastal road to exile. The gap between Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea, each making the other responsible for the loss of the Christian regions of the South. In 1985, the break is.
The President ordered the reopening of the coastal road north of Beirut, and the removal of the dam Barbara held by men of Geagea.
This military post to control access ports through which pass illegal weapons, drugs, and merchandise (2). Incidentally, the militiamen take their tithe. Samir Geagea refused to comply. It is excluded from the leadership of the Phalange. On 12 March 1985, he raised with the help of a veteran of Lebanese politics, Karim Pakradouni, and Elie Hobeika, head of intelligence and the LF responsible for the massacres against the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila . Within hours, without firing a shot, the triumvirate conquers the Lebanese Forces. A year later, Elie Hobeika, spawning with Syria, is ousted (3).
Stripped of its rival, Samir Geagea becomes one of the most powerful warlords of Lebanon. He transforms his militia into a real army. He acquired an immense fortune from taxes it collects from one end to another of the "Marounistan" (the country Maronite). Above all, he knows reinvest its war chest in many successful companies. It controls the television's most watched LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation), and radio, the Voice of Lebanon. To complete his image of a monk-soldier, he likes to quote Teilhard de Chardin and dreams aloud of a mini-Christian state. But Amin Gemayel, in the final term, appoint the Prime Minister as Interim General Michel Aoun, Chief of Staff of the Army. Not recognized by Muslim leaders, it is difficult to reconcile with the small Christian Samir Geagea. Clashes erupted between the army and the LF. In 1989, General Aoun launched his "war of national liberation" against Syrian occupation. Samir Geagea rallied to his first fight, then the "coward" by adhering to agreements concluded by the Lebanese deputies in Taif (Saudi Arabia) to end the civil war. This reversal plunged the Christian camp in a terrible fratricidal war. Jounieh East Beirut, the army and the Lebanese clash with heavy weapons. Families are torn. The wound will never heal. In October 1990, Syria bears the final blow to General Aoun. A few days after his fall, one of his main Christian allies, Dany Chamoun, son of former president Camille Chamoun, was assassinated with his wife and two children. Samir Geagea released seems to be winning the war. Apart from him, all the major Christian leaders are dead or in exile.
He refuses, however, unlike other warlords, to return to the government and themselves as the leading opponent of Syrian domination of the country. In February 1994, a bomb exploded in a church north of Beirut: authorities accuse FL. Samir Geagea was imprisoned and his party dissolved. Justice unearthed, despite the amnesty, other cases against the "Doctor", in particular murder of Dany Chamoun. Following an expedited trial, during which several defendants say they were tortured, Samir Geagea is brought to trial before a High Court of Justice. The case of the Church deflates quickly, but the murder charge against Chamoun's residence, and may mark the end of the last warlord of Lebanon.
(1) A Thousand Years of War, by Jonathan Randal. Grasset, 1984. (2) War Maronite Sneifer by Regina-Perri. L'Harmattan, 1995. (3) Le Piège, par Karim Pakradouni. Grasset, 1991.
Source :
http://www.liberation.fr/monde/0101145710-la-chute-d-un-seigneur-de-la-guerre-du-liban-accuse-de-massacres-samir-geagea-ancien-chef-des-forces-libanaises-attend-le-verdict-de-la-justice
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