Eight men are being held by the Zintan prosector suspected of involvement in the torture and murder of former Libyan ambassador . . .[restrict]to France, Dr Omar Brebesh.
The prosector in Zintan, Abdulrahman Faneera, said last night his office was still gathering evidence. Only then would he take a decision on whether to hand the men over to the Tripoli authorities, where he said, it appeared that the crime had been committed
The suspects are all from Tripoli, except their unnamed commander who is from Zintan. He is reported to have told the prosecutor that there had been no intention to kill anyone, but that “things had got out of hand”.
A commander in the 10th Martyrs Brigade is Khalid al-Blehzi. It was he who called Brebesh in for questioning at a brigade base in the Crimea district of south Tripoli on January 21. The former ambassador arrived voluntarily with his son Ziad. Thereafter the young man was prevented from seeing his father. It is not yet clear what then happened to the diplomat, but less than 24 hours later his body was in a Zintan hospital morgue from where, his relatives were told, they could collect it.
A preliminary autopsy back in Tripoli established that Brabesh had been tortured extensively. Photographs of taken of the corpse and the large number of injuries to it were examined by Human Rights Watch, which went public with the crime. [/restrict]
