Renewal Bloc MPs called on the caretaker government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday to refer Lebanese Forces coordinator Pascal Sleiman’s murder to the Judicial Council.
Speaking at the end of an extraordinary meeting of the bloc, MP Ashraf Rifi said: “Pascal Sleiman’s murder was carried out in a planned manner by an organized criminal gang, a matter that raises serious questions that contradict the official narratives.”
Rifi demanded “the expansion of the investigation to show the full picture to the public and quell the suspicious practices that threaten Lebanon,” underlining the importance of referring the case which “jeopardized civil peace,” to the Judicial Council.
“We affirm full solidarity with the family of the deceased and the Lebanese Forces Party and commend the responsibility they had shown to prevent the murderers from achieving their goals of propagating intimidation and igniting a major sedition,” Rifi added.
For their part, Change MPs Yassin Yassin, Melhem Khalaf, Paula Yaacoubian, and Firas Hamdan, denounced in a statement on Tuesday “the heinous and atrocious crime,” and called on the judiciary and security apparatuses to “fully mobilize and reveal the truth, and to inflict the harshest punishments on all who were involved.”
They also called for self-restraint, caution and awareness “to thwart attempts of tampering with citizen and homeland security in these difficult moments.”
“The country is in danger today more than ever, beware of falling into pitfalls and may God protect Lebanon,” the statement concluded.
