Michel Aoun files defamation lawsuits

The office of former President of the Republic Michel Aoun announced on Thursday, through lawyer Wadih Akl, that a lawsuit is being filed against "a number of individuals who have been guilty of defamation and misinformation in a national issue such as that of the disappeared and kidnapped during the war."

The statement emphasizes that Aoun "has long been a spearhead in this issue and in the passing of a law that allowed the establishment of the national commission on the disappeared and kidnapped."

The issue of the disappeared remains unresolved 35 years after the end of the war in Lebanon, in 1990. Thousands of families still do not know what happened to their children, and this issue has resurfaced with the recent fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the return of some prisoners to Lebanon. On this occasion, the former president has been the subject of a campaign accusing him of not defending this issue adequately with the Syrian authorities during his terms as MP and president, and of repeating their claims when they said that no Lebanese prisoners were held in Syria.

Aoun's office mentioned, "his decision to file a lawsuit because the level of criticism directed at him goes well beyond the freedom of expression that he considers sacred, and constitutes defamatory insults against his person and his political career, but also against a large segment of Lebanese."