khazen.org pays tribute to the Gemayel family & remember today the seventh commemoration of the minister’s assassination the Martyr Cheikh Pierre Gemayel. We demand the international community and Lebanese Justice to find as quick as possible the murderers and bring them to Justice.
Cheikh Pierre you are greatly missed!
Below details of his assasination that was posted by khazen.org in 2006
http://www.khazen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1326&catid=1&Itemid=216
BEIRUT: From the tragedy of death came a drive to overcome obstacles, Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel said Thursday of his son, Pierre Gemayel, at the seventh commemoration of the minister’s assassination.
“He is still with us daily, and we have overcome a lot of challenges because of him,” an emotional Gemayel said at the Mar Mikhael Church in the Metn area of Bikfaya. “This gathering is evidence that Pierre is still alive among us, praying for us to get over all difficulties.”
“Because of him we have accomplished so much and he has been our inspiration,” he said, in tears.
The church was packed with mourners as part of the annual commemoration of the slain Pierre Gemayel. Family members and friends attended the Mass, holding prayers and singing solemn hymns.
Deputy Speaker Farid Makari was also present, as well as a number of March 14 lawmakers.
The assassinated industry minister and son of former President Amine Gemayel was a leader of the Christian Kataeb Party, which was founded by his grandfather, also named Pierre Gemayel. His uncle and then-President-elect Bachir Gemayel was also assassinated in 1982.
The anti-Syrian minister was shot in broad daylight while driving through the Beirut suburb of Jdeideh in 2006.
Caretaker Environment Minister Nazem Khoury, representing President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, placed a wreath at the statue of Gemayel in Bikfaya.
Head of the Change Movement Elie Mahfoud called for the Kataeb Party, as well other members of the March 14 coalition, to keep looking for Gemayel’s killer and continue calling for justice.
“I ask everyone, starting with the Gemayel family and the Kataeb Party up until March 14 not to give up on the search for the offender,” Mahfoud said.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Nov-22/238629-family-friends-attend-pierre-gemayel-memorial.ashx#ixzz3Jj5ndvTK
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From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Amine_Gemayel
Assassination
On 21 November 2006, the day before Lebanon‘s Independence Day, at least three to four gunmen opened fire at close range on Gemayel with five different types of silenced automatic weapons, all using 9 mm bullets, after ramming his car from the front in the Jdeideh suburb north of Beirut with a Honda CRV with tinted windows that they were driving.[14][15][16] Gemayel was the fifth prominent anti-Syrian figure to be killed in Lebanon in two years.[17]
Gemayel was visiting his electoral district of Metn, in Jdeideh that day.[11] Gemayel refused escorts, and was himself driving his car unshielded during the assassination.[11] The method by which Gemayel was assassinated is much more brazen than that used in the past – gunmen killing in broad daylight, rather than anonymous car bombs detonated remotely.[11] He was rushed by his driver, who escaped the attack unhurt, to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was declared dead.[18] His bodyguard Sameer Chartouni was also killed in the attack.[11]
Perpetrators
His killers issued a communique in which they referred to themselves the "Fighters for the Unity and Liberty of Greater Syria." They said that they killed Gemayel because he was "one of those who unceasingly spouted their venom against Syria and against [Hizbullah], shamelessly and without any trepidation."[19]
A report by Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah alleged that an editor from the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency contacted a Lebanese pro-Syrian newspaper 55 minutes prior to the assassination to inquire about the murder. The story claims the SANA reporter called back 10 minutes later to apologize for the original call. Al Seyassah further states it did not name the Lebanese newspaper to protect its identity.[20]
Lebanese law requires the dissolution of the government if one third of the 24-member Cabinet resign or become unavailable. It has been speculated that Gemayel’s assassination was an attempt by pro-Syrian groups to reach the required third, and so force the current Government from power. With the recent resignation of six Hezbollah MPs from the Cabinet, added to Gemayel’s death, the resignation or death of only two more ministers would topple the government.[21]
Others have, however, put forward many conspiracy theories regarding the murder [22] such as a possible false flag operation. Many have questioned Syria’s interest in targeting the Christian society as that could have the effect of destabilising a rival Christian party, namely Michel Aoun‘s Free Patriotic Movement which, together with Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah‘s Shi’i Hezbollah, forms the largest parliamentary pro-Syrian block. However the pro-Syrian coalition managed to establish a sit-in, later growing into a protest camp, in the martyr’s square downtown Beirut, to insist on their demands.
Despite these claims, the unidentified perpetrators are still at large and the investigation on the attack has been inconclusive.[23]
Funeral
A funeral ceremony for him was held on Martyrs’ Square on 23 November 2006 with the participation of hundreds of thousands of supporters of the March 14 Alliance, and turned to be a political character.[11] His body was buried in his hometown Bikfaya after Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir performed the rites in Beirut.[1][24]
Lebanese reaction
Saad Hariri, then majority leader of the Lebanese Parliament and the head of the Current for the Future political movement, accused Syria of ordering the killing.[25] The Syrian government denied any involvement, and condemned the killings[26]
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt also blamed Syria for the assassination, and said he expected more such killings aimed at undermining the Lebanese parliament’s ruling majority. "I bluntly accuse the Syrian regime," Jumblatt said.[27]
Samir Geagea, the leader of The Lebanese Forces, one of the major Christian parties, demanded President Émile Lahoud resign, and also accused Syria of ordering the killing.
Michel Aoun, leader of The Free Patriotic Movement, strongly condemned the murder, and argued that it was aimed at generating chaos and uncertainty, primarily among the Christian society in Lebanon.
Similar remarks and condemnation were issued by almost all of the major Lebanese political players.
World reaction
The U.N. Security Council condemned Gemayel’s assassination.[28]
Pope Benedict XVI‘s representative at the funeral condemned the "unspeakable" assassination.[29]
British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the murder.[30] Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the United Kingdom, called the killing "contrary to the interests of all in the region" in a press conference aired on Al Jazeera English approximately an hour after Gemayel’s death was confirmed.
The White House also condemned the murder.[31] The U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton said, "One pattern we discern in these political assassinations of Lebanese leaders — journalists, members of parliament — they are all anti-Syrian. So I suppose one can draw conclusions from that," he said.[28]
