BEIRUT: Investigative Judge Fadi Sawwan requested the death penalty for 33 suspects in the killing of two soldiers in east Lebanon, a judicial source said Tuesday.
The 33 suspects have yet to be apprehended and were given their charges in absentia.
The suspects are charged with murder, attempted murder, mistreating Army personnel, theft of arms and ammunition, stealing personal documents, money and cell-phones of the two soldiers as well as for possession of arms and explosives.
The penalty, however, does not apply to four other suspects, including the head of the Arsal Municipality Ali al-Hujeiri, because they intervened in the attack and handed themselves in to the authorities.
Captain Pierre Bashalani and Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman were killed in an ambush in Feburary by gunmen on the outskirts of the border town of Arsal when an army unit was in pursuit of Khalid Hmayyed, a man wanted on terror charges. Hmayyed was killed in the incident.
Copyrights 2011, The Daily Star - All Rights Reserved
09/07/2013
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Jul-09/223085-judge-requests-death-penalty-for-33-over-arsal-attack.ashx#axzz2YYggK346
