BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 5 (UPI) -- A Beirut criminal court Tuesday acquitted Christian leader Gen. Michel Aoun from the charge of undermining Lebanon's relations with Syria.
The court found the former army commander who returned from exile in France last May not guilty of the charge which was filed against him after he addressed the U.S. Congress' Foreign Relations Committee in 2003, attacking Syria's military and intelligence presence in Lebanon which ended last April.
The ruling made in absentia said Aoun "is not guilty of the charge due to lack of evidence."
Aoun's defense lawyer Jean Salwan hailed the ruling.
Aoun spent 15 years in exile in Paris after he led a liberation war against Syria in 1990. He was Syria's staunchest opponent and pressed the U.S. Congress to adopt the Syria Accountability and Lebanon Sovereignty Restoration Act under which U.S. sanctions were imposed on Damascus.
Aoun who leads the opposition Free Patriotic Movement won a seat in parliament in last month's general elections.
