Report: ISF Rejects Transferring Samaha's Informer to Testimony Session
The Internal Security Forces will not transfer the lead informant in ex-Minister Michel Samaha's case to testify before the judiciary during a session set at the end of the month, media reports said on Tuesday.
According to al-Akhbar newspaper, the ISF fears for the life of informant Milad Kfoury, who is reportedly the man behind reporting Samaha to the ISF Intelligence Bureau.
“We will protect the witness no matter who he is... He is a hero to us, who saved the country from a plot that would've incited sedition,” a security source told the newspaper.
On Monday, Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riyad Abu Ghida set January 28 the date of the hearing to hear the testimony of informant Kfoury.
Abu Ghida also decided to hold another session on February 4 to question Syrian Security Chief Maj. Gen. Ali al-Mamlouk and a colonel identified only as Adnan.
Lebanese judicial authorities have charged Samaha, Mamlouk and Adnan with forming a group to commit terrorist crimes in Lebanon.
The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
A source told al-Akhbar that the ISF “isn't willing to risk the life of its informant... We will set a video call between the judge and Kfoury.”
The newspaper expected that the stance of the ISF's decision will lead to a crisis in the country among the March 14 and 8 political foes.
The crisis in Syria, which began in March 2011, deepened the gap between the opposition that favors President Bashar Assad regime's collapse against rising protests but the March 8 alliance, which makes up the majority of the government, is a staunch supporter of Assad.
A judicial source told the daily that if Kfoury and al-Mamlouk didn't stand trial then the judge can't issue an indictment concerning the formation of an armed gang but Samaha will be convicted of transporting weapons.
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