A former warlord who once dominated Lebanon's Christian heartland went on trial Saturday, facing a possible death penalty if convicted of bombing a church and killing a political rival.
The Lebanese news media called it the most important trial since Lebanon gained independence from France in 1943.At least 1,000 army commandos ringed the courthouse as Samir Geagea, who headed the Lebanese Forces militia in the late stages of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, was brought in from prison.
The slim, balding chieftain, whose name once spelled terror across the Christian region, was greeted with thunderous applause at the packed courtroom. Geagea, smiling, waved to the crowd before sitting in the dock.
"I am confident he will be acquitted," Geagea's wife, Strida Touk, told The Associated Press.
After the 2,000-page indictments were read out, the five-man tribunal adjourned the church bombing trial to Friday and that of Christian politician Dany Cha-moun's murder to Dec. 2.
Geagea, 43, is accused of masterminding a bombing of a church in the Christian-populated port city of Jounieh on Feb. 27, 1994. Eleven worshipers were killed and 60 were wounded.
He was charged with enlisting the help of Israel's secret service to plant the bomb at the Maronite Catholic church 12 1/2 miles north of Beirut.
The indictment said Geagea, who maintained close ties with Israel from 1986 to 1990 when he led the Lebanese Forces, wanted to reignite the civil war and proclaim a breakaway Christian state.
Geagea also is accused of engineering the murder of Chamoun, his wife and their two sons. Gunmen broke into their house at suburban Baabda east of Beirut at dawn on Oct. 21, 1990.