Dear Excellencies, dear friends, dear all,

Thank you so much for joining us today. I cannot believe it, but it is already the fourth commemoration of Lokman’s assassination, and justice still has not been done. In fact, justice seems to be ever further away. 

Over the last two days, judge Bilal Halawi’s decision to close the file of Lokman’s assassination was leaked to the Hezbollah friendly press, most probably by Halawi himself. 

A lot of what was reported was wrong, and therefore allow me to go back in time.

Four years ago, on the third of February, Lokman left our house in Haret Hreik around noon. He went south to have lunch at the home of a friend in Niha. But he never returned. The next morning, we learned that his body was found inside his car, in Addousieh, executed by six bullets, shot from a short distance, one in his back and five in the back of his head.

The investigation undertaken by Maaloumat, the intelligence of the ISF, showed that Lokman had been followed from the moment he left our house in Haret Hreik until he reached the home of his friend in Niha.

The investigation showed that at least five cars were implicated, cars that have been clearly identified, even with the names of their owners.

The investigation showed that those who were tracking Lokman stayed around the house in Niha until he left at 8:30 PM.

The investigation showed that his car was intercepted by two of the five cars and he was kidnapped. Three cars, including Lokman’s, drove then to Addoussieh, south of Saida.

The investigation showed the exact timing when the three cars, Lokman’s and the kidnappers’, arrived in Addoussieh.

And the investigation showed the exact time when Lokman was shot in the back and in the head, from behind. It was between 9:20 and 9:27 PM.

The investigation led by Maaloumat showed almost every detail of the tracking, the kidnapping and the assassination, everything except the names of the killers.

Those who shot Lokman in the head, those who did not have even the guts to look at his eyes when following the execution order they got from their masters. 

Also, Maaloumat stated the places where the cars went after the assassination. Places that Maaloumat described as forbidden access places.

Maaloumat remitted their investigation to the General Prosecutor who, in turn, sent it to the investigating judge to identify the killers. Everything was there: camera footage, DNA prints, fingerprints, photos of the cars. It was more than what Maaloumat had discovered in any investigation of a political assassination, everything, except the names. This is what we have been told.

The file was sent to the investigating judge in September 2021, three years and a half ago. What has been done since? Nothing.

It took us a very long time to convince the first investigating judge, Charbel Abu Samra, to seek international technical assistance for forensic questions.

Charbel Abu Samra finally accepted. The former General Prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, also accepted. A request for international technical assistance was therefore issued and sent through the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then to Germany, who had offered their technical support.

Then, in November 2023, Charbel Abu Samra retired and was replaced by a new investigating judge, Bilal Halawi.

Halawi, told us at the first hearing: I will lead the investigation to show you that those who did it are not those you are accusing. Thus, the tone was set.

The purpose of the investigation was switched from identifying the killers to exonerate the party that we are accusing, Hezbollah.

Since that hearing, Halawi has made no investigation whatsoever. What he did, however, was to reverse the decision of Abu Samra about seeking international technical assistance.

His argument to do so? Seeking such international assistance is an abandonment of  Lebanese sovereignty.

Last November, Halawi decided that he had no way of identifying the killers and therefore, he wanted to close the file. He gave us two weeks to bring new evidence, which by the way, it is not our role to do investigations.

As we understood that he intended to close  the investigation for no other reason than to protect the killers, we filed two requests to remove him from the case. One to the Court of Appeal, and one to the Court of Cassation.

As soon as he knew about our requests, Halawi issued his order to suspend the investigation indefinitely.

Impunity. This is the message said to the killers and their masters.

How is it possible that a judge, who is said to be very close to Hezbollah, can decide alone to suspend the investigation?

Do not let Lokman be killed twice. The first time when he was shot from behind by six bullets in his back and in his head, and the second time when he was shot from the front by the decision taken by Bilal Halawi. 

Fight with us for justice, for Lokman and Lebanon.