UN chief welcomes murder conviction for 1980 blue helmet killings in Lebanon
December 30, 2020
Peacekeepers stand guard in Beirut, Lebanon, after the rain. — courtesy UN/Pasqual Gorriz
NEW YORK — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Lebanon’s decision to bring to justice the man found guilty of killing two UN peacekeepers decades ago.
Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday that Guterres “took note” of the Dec. 22 verdict by the country’s Permanent Military Court, which convicted and sentenced 76-year-old Mahmoud Bazzi to 15 years in prison for the decades-old kidnapping and killing of two UN peacekeepers and causing serious injury to a third.