Lebanese Militant Walks Out of Paris Trial in ’82 Murders
Suspected Lebanese guerrilla leader Georges Ibrahim Abdallah today withdrew from his trial on charges of political violence, denouncing what he called a political tribunal run by France and the United States.
The 35-year-old Lebanese Christian militant left the courtroom after reading a long statement attacking “blond Westerners with blue eyes” and defending the action of “Arab fighters.”
“Down with Yankee imperialism and its lackeys!” he shouted as he walked from a chandelier-hung courtroom in the 19th-Century Palais de Justice.
His lawyer, Jacques Verges, said Abdallah will not be present for the rest of the trial, which opened today amid unprecedented security.
Abdallah is accused of complicity in the 1982 murders of U.S. military attache Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimentov.
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