| http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020124161615601
The Man with the Winning Card in the Sabra and Shatilla Case Assassinated Thursday, January 24 2002 @ 04:16 PM GMT By Mathew J O'Conner, PalestineChronicle.com Reporter BEIRUT: Elie Hobeika, the former Lebanese Christian warlord was killed by a car bomb in Beirut Thursday. It is believed that Hobeika had evidence that links Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon directly the massacre of Sabra and Shatilla in 1982, and vowed in recent months to introduce it to the court in Brussels, currently deliberating whether to try Sharon for war crimes. Hobeika who suddenly reappeared in the political arena said that he has indisputable evidence to prove his innocence and the innocence of the Phalangists, accused of carrying out the massacre in which up to 4,000 Palestinians were killed. He said in a recent interview with the Lebanese weekly magazine, "Magazine" that documents and testimonies he collected will invalidate the decisions made by the Israeli Kahan Commission in regards to his personal involvement in the massacre. He argued that Israeli forces have in fact participated in the carnage. This week, he reiterated his statements to two Belgian senators who visited Lebanon to show support for the victims of the massacre, that he has new evidence. One of the visiting senators, Josy Dubie, said that Hobeika told him in the Beirut meeting that he was feeling "threatened." In the Thursday morning car bomb near his home, Hobeika with other three bodyguards were torn to pieces. In his meeting with the Belgian senators, Hobeika insisted that he was not involved in the massacres, and that he had "evidence of his innocence," Dubie said. He added, "He told me that he never set foot in Sabra and Shatila during the three days of the massacres." According to Dubie, the meeting with Hobeika was secret and took place on Tuesday evening. Hobeika "confirmed to me in the most formal manner that he would come to Brussels" if the Belgian authorities went ahead with a trial against Sharon in connection with the massacres, Dubie said. And when the senators asked Hobeika if he felt threatened, Hobeika replied, "I feel threatened. I have revelations to make." "I then asked why he did not make these revelations now," the senator said, "and he replied to me: 'I am saving them for the trial'." "In whose interest was it to get rid of Hobeika? That's a question mark," Dubie said. It was yesterday that a Brussels court ruled that a final decision regarding Sharon’s trial will be made on March 6, following an appeal from Sharon’s lawyer to dismiss the case under the claim that "Belgium is not competent to judge this affair." Earlier, the Belgian public prosecutor accused Sharon of committing genocide and crimes against humanity. Sharon was the Defense Minister at the time and he admitted to have send the Phalangists into the camp to "mop up" alleged terrorists. |
