Dr Geagea’s speech in the 22nd anniversary of the explosion of Our Lady of Deliverance church in Zouk Mikael- Maarab 27–02–2016

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwO...

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Saturday that remnants of Syria’s security apparatus from the country’s 29-year occupation of Lebanon are still present.

Speaking to supporters on the 22nd anniversary of the 1994 bombing of Saydet al-Najat Church, for which he was jailed, Geagea held on to his long-held belief that Syria plotted the attack to blame him.

“If you ask me who was responsible for the bombing of the Saydet al-Najat, I will tell you without hesitation that it was Lebanese-Syrian security regime,” Geagea said.

Syria’s army occupied Lebanon from 1976–2005.

Geagea was convicted of the bombing, which killed 10 people, and spent 11 years in solitary confinement in a cell at the Lebanese Defense Ministry before being freed in an amnesty deal in July 2005.

“After 22 years since the church bombing, there are still remnants of the Syrian rule in the Lebanese judiciary. Look at the Michel Samaha case,” Geagea said.

He argued that Samaha’s case had “concrete evidence incriminating him,” but he was still released on bail.

Samaha, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, was released by the Military Court of Cassation on a nearly $100,000 bail last month despite having been convicted of a terror plot to destabilize the country last year.

He was convicted on terrorism charges in May of 2015 for smuggling explosives into Lebanon and planning attacks on political and religious leaders. He was originally sentenced to four and a half years in prison, but following an outcry over the leniency of his sentence the verdict was annulled and a retrial was ordered.

Samaha’s release has invoked nationwide outrage, mainly by the March 14 coalition, as he allegedly plotted to target anti-Syrian officials in northern Lebanon.