The Lebanese military judiciary requested to hear the testimony of the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, against the background of the violence that erupted last week in the Tayouneh area in Beirut.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the government's commissioner to the military court, Judge Fadi Akiki, asked to hear Geagea's testimony before the court in the file of the events in the Tayouneh and Ain al-Rummaneh area, against the background of the confessions made by the detainees in this file.
The events of Tayouneh began with shooting as a number of demonstrators headed to the Adliya area to participate in a vigil called by both Hezbollah and the Amal movement in front of the Palace of Justice, to demand the departure of the judicial investigative judge in the file of the Beirut port explosion, Judge Tariq Al-Bitar.
Clashes took place with machine guns and heavy shells for about 5 hours in Al-Tayouneh, which separates the predominantly Shiite area of Chiyah and the predominantly Christian area of Ain Al-Rummaneh - Badaro.
Geagea responds
For his part, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, said that he was not aware of any request to hear his testimony regarding the violence that erupted in Beirut.
Geagea stressed that the Lebanese Forces party has not violated the law since the end of the civil war.
Both Hezbollah and the Amal Movement accused the Lebanese Forces Party of seeking to ignite a new civil war and shooting demonstrators in the heads by snipers, but the latter denied this and said that the responsibility rests with the leaders who took their supporters to that exact place.
The director of Al Jazeera's office in Beirut, Mazen Ibrahim, stated that the legal course of the Tayouneh events began since the arrest of more than 19 people, and the investigation of them by the Lebanese Army's intelligence, and then referring them to the competent judiciary, which is the military court.
On the basis of hearing the detainees, the court requested that Geagea be heard, without this implying a judgment against him or an indictment.
The reporter added that he expected Geagea to be officially informed of the request within the next two days, noting that Geagea made it clear that he had a legal response to this request.
The correspondent stated that this request comes within the legal context of the case, but it will have political consequences for the country based on sectarian approaches.
Lebanese Defense Minister Maurice Selim said - in a television interview - that the stampede and clash in Tayouneh led to shooting from both sides, and added that field testimonies confirm the entry of young men into the streets of Ain al-Remmaneh, and that the shooting caused chaos, and preceded the sniping operations.