The Armenian Parliamentary Bloc, headed by the representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Central Committee of Lebanon Hagop Pakradouni and Bloc members Hagop Terzian and Alexander Matossian, as well as a group of lawyers, visited the head of Beirut Bar Association, Melhem Khalaf, in light of the attacks made on the Lebanese-Armenian community by an individual representing a Lebanese union.
After the meeting, Pakradouni stated that they have presented to Khalaf the steps to be taken by the Armenian Parliamentary Bloc. “We believe in the judicial authority and act in accordance with the law. A group of lawyers will file a complaint with the relevant authorities. This issue is purely legal. Therefore, we will not be drawn into provocations and traps, and we will not get carried away by the actions of foreign-backed secret services against a major community in Lebanon. We consider this to be an attack on all Lebanese people and reaffirm that we will not fall into the trap of going out onto the streets, believing that the only way to solve this issue is through the law and the judicial system,’’ highlighted Pakradouni.
The delegation filed a lawsuit with State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidad against Mounir Hassan and the Lebanese-Arab Mardalia Union, with regards to Hassan’s defamatory remarks against Armenians and praise for the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. The State Prosecutor entrusted Judge Ghassan Khoury with the case.
MPs Pakradouni, Terzian, Matossian, George Okais, Former President of the Beirut Bar Assocation George Greige, lawyer Ziad Bitar, and more than 30 Armenian and non-Armenian lawyers signed the lawsuit.
Armenians went through the law and judicial system in Turkey for decades prior to 1915. We all know how that turned out.