BEIRUT, June 24 -- Former Lebanese warlord Samir Geagea and five followers were convicted Saturday and given death sentences, which were reduced to life in prison, for the 1990 assassination of a rival Christian leader and his family. Geagea, former commander of the disbanded Lebanese Forces militia and the first militia leader from the 1975-90 civil war to face trial, was convicted of ordering the killings. Convicted in absentia were Geagea's top aides, Ghassan Touma and Tony Obeid, and militia members Atef Habr, Naja Qaddoum and Elias Awwad, who remain at large. Touma and Obeid are fugitives in Australia. All the sentences were reduced to life with hard labor. Six other militia members were sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was then reduced to 10 years of hard labor. Rafik Saadeh was acquitted even though he supplied the hit squad with pistols, because he satisfied the court that he did not know the nature of their mission. Geagea and two other defendants were not brought into the courtroom and remained in a hallway, despite protests by their attorneys. Lebanese judges frequently order defendants to be excluded to minimize sensational courtroom displays in reaction to verdicts. Judge Phillipe Khairallah, president of the five-member Judicial Council, pronounced the unanimous verdict after spending three hours reading a 100-page summary of the proceedings. The council, Lebanon's highest court for state security crimes, tried the militia leaders for the Oct. 21, 1990, slayings of Dany Chamoun, leader of the Christian National Liberal Party, his wife Ingrid, and sons Tarek and Julian.
Khairallah found that Geagea ordered Chamoun's death to tighten control over Christian areas and become the paramount Christian leader in war-torn Lebanon. Habr, Qaddoum and Awwad were found to be the hit men who entered the Chamouns' house and killed them. Khairallah also ordered financial indemnities of up to 500 million Lebanese pounds ($308,166) for Chamoun's two daughters and for his wife's family. In addition, he ordered the confiscation of properties owned by 10 convicted but fugitive militia members until they are arrested. The convictions carry no right of appeal, but sentences may be rescinded or changed by presidential decree. Geagea's attorneys reacted only by saying that 'the Judicial Council did its job and we did ours.' But Geagea's wife, Sitrida, said: 'My husband said before that he was arrested because of a political decision and will be released by a political decision.' She left the courtroom surrounded by attorneys and 100 sympathizers who shouted slogans supporting Geagea and denouncing the government. 'This is a mascarade,' one of the supporters said. 'Even after 100 years, justice will take place and Geagea will prove his innocence.' As about 750 of Geagea's angry supporters reached the heavily guarded gate of the Justice Palace, a fracas broke out between them and army troops. The troops beat the supporters with the butts of their machine guns and arrested several. Journalists and photographers fled after some of their tapes were confiscated by troops. TV crews, which usually are admitted into courtrooms but were excluded Saturday, provided live coverage from outside the Justice Palace. Geagea's conviction could further frustrate Lebanon's Christians, many of whom believe a 1989 accord to end the civil war came at their expense, favored Muslims and consolidated the control of Syria in Lebanon. Syria, the Muslims' ally, stations 35,000 troops in Lebanon. The Judicial Council is also trying Geagea in the Feb. 27, 1994, bombing of a church near Beirut that killed 11 worshipers. That trial was suspended after one of the judges retired. Neither the Chamoun killings nor the church blast were covered by a general amnesty approved in 1991 for civil war crimes.
