Press statement concerning the death of Elie Hobeika, 24 January 2002

Introduction

Right: Former Lebanese militia leader, Elie Hobeika, announces at a news conference July 5, 2001 that he is ready to submit evidence to a Belgian inquiry on the role played by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the massacre of hundreds of civilians at Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. A blast on Thursday killed Hobeika, a former Lebanese minister and leader of a pro-Israeli militia involved in the massacre of the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, security sources said. REUTERS/Charif Karim

Although all the facts are not yet known, the car bombing that killed former Phalangist milita leader and former Lebanese Minister of Electricity Elias Hobeika and three other individuals today in Beirut is of significance to the case brought in Belgium on behalf of the victims and survivors of the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

The following statement (first in English and then in French) was made by the three lawyers representing the plaintiffs in Belgium, Chibli Mallat of Lebanon and Belgians Luc Walleyn and Michael Verhaeghe, which provides additional context for understanding and appraising the elimination of Elias Hobeika.

In conversations this morning with a leading Beirut newspaper editor and a member of the Beirut Committee of this campaign, I learned that most journalists and political pundits in the Lebanese capital interpret Hobeika's killing as a sign that "someone is very afraid and threatened by developments in Belgium."

The last paragraph of the following statement sums up the spirit and the principles animating our entire campaign.

Laurie King-Irani, Ph.D.
North American Coordinator
International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila

Press statement in English

Above: Lawyers in charge of a suit against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Chibli Mallat (L) of Lebanon and Luc Walleyn (R) of Belgium, talk to reporters in Brussels January 24, 2002. Mallat and Walleyn met with Belgian senators following news of the assassination of former Lenanese Christian warlord Elie Hobeika in Beirut. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

The dramatic news which has just reached us from Lebanon this morning about the death of Mr Elie Hobeika and his companions in a car bomb attack has shocked us profoundly. Mr Hobeika had expressed several times his wish to collaborate with the Belgian enquiry on the massacres of Sabra and Chatila. This determination was again reported widely on the eve of his assassination.

The elimination of a key protagonist, who had offered to assist with the enquiry, appears as an evident attempt to undermine the case, and reinforces the international campaign which seeks to prevent any examination before a neutral forum of a crime against humanity which has remained unpunished.

As lawyers of the victims, we firmly denounce this assassination. In closing our pleadings yesterday before the Court of Appeal, we repeated that the victims are engaged in a judicial procedure which jars with the tradition of violent settlement of the conflicts in the region. Those behind the assassination clearly follow a logic of war which seeks to prevent the pursuit of an alternative of non-violence, law, and justice.

Brussels, 24 January 2002

Chibli MALLAT, Michael VERHAEGHE, Luc WALLEYN

Communiqué de presse en français

Les nouvelles dramatiques qui nous sont parvenues du Liban ce matin sur la mort de M.Elie Hobeika et de ses compagnons dans un attentat, nous choquent profondément. M. Hobeika avait à plusieurs reprises exprimé son souhait de collaborer avec l'instruction belge sur les massacres de Sabra et Chatila, détermination à laquelle des organes de presse ont encore fait écho à la veille de son assassinat.

L'élimination d'un protagoniste essentiel, qui avait offert de collaborer à l'enquête, apparaît comme une tentative évidente de saboter l'instruction, et rejoint la campagne internationale qui vise à empêcher tout examen judiciaire neutre d'un crime contre l'humanité demeuré impuni.

En tant qu'avocats des victimes, nous dénonçons cet attentat de la manière la plus ferme. En clôturant hier nos plaidoieries devant la Chambre des Mises en Accusation, nous avons encore rappellé qu'en engageant une procédure judiciaire, les victimes ont entrepris une démarche unique qui tranche avec la tradition du règlement violent des conflits dans la région. Ceux qui ont commis cet attentat poursuivent manifestement une logique de guerre qui vise à empêcher une alternative de non-violence, de droit et de justice.

Bruxelles, le 24 janvier 2002

Chibli MALLAT, Michael VERHAEGHE, Luc WALLEYN

[The Case Against The Accused]