General amnesty: families of soldiers killed in Abra in 2013 ask Aoun to exclude “army assassins”

The families of Lebanese army soldiers killed during the Abra clashes in 2013 sent an open letter to Head of State Joseph Aoun on Sunday, calling on him not to include the perpetrators of these crimes in the general amnesty law currently under study by the authorities, several report. local media.

The clashes, which occurred in June 2013 between the army and a Salafist group led by Sheikh Ahmad el-Assir in Abra, near Saida, left 29 dead, including 18 soldiers.

“Any amnesty law in its current form, including individuals convicted of crimes against the Lebanese army and the murder of its soldiers, would in practice lead to the release of the assassins of the army’s martyrs,” the statement said. The families called on President Aoun to use his constitutional powers to “reject any law that undermines the rights of the martyrs of the military institution or leads to the release of their assassins.”

The families say they have tried more than three times over the past three months to obtain an official meeting at Baabda Palace to present their concerns, without success, prompting them to address the president directly by open letter.

They also recall that the people convicted after these clashes were judged according to legal procedures, believing that “justice decisions are not a game in the hands of populists and promoters of sectarianism and power sharing.” “These lives are not a political detail, nor a negotiable or exchangeable card in any internal or regional context whatsoever,” they add.

The families finally believe that any solution to the detriment of the blood of the martyrs would constitute “a dangerous precedent” undermining justice and confidence in the State, while nevertheless welcoming any legal or humanitarian approach aimed at improving prison conditions and accelerating the trial, with respect for justice and responsibility.

The debate on the general amnesty law in Lebanon remains strongly marked by sectarian divisions, with each camp having different positions on the categories of detainees and the crimes concerned, which fuels political tensions around the project.