Charles Rizk

Charles Rizk
Minister of Justice
In office
July 2005 – July 2008
President Emile Lahoud
Michel Suleiman
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
Succeeded by Ibrahim Najjar
Personal details
Born (1935-07-20) 20 July 1935
Nationality Lebanese
Religion Christianity

Charles Rizk (Arabic: شارل رزق‎) (born 20 July 1935) is a Lebanese Maronite politician, who served at different cabinet posts.

Early life and education

Rizk was born on 20 July 1935.[1] He studied at the prestigious Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris,[2] and received a PhD in law.[1]

Career

Rizk was a faculty member at Lebanese University until he joined politics.[1] He began his political career as an aide to President Fuad Chehab. He was Lebanon's representative at the Francophonie.[2] Then he became director general of the information ministry in 1967.[1] From 1978 to 1983 he served as the headof the state television station Tele Liban.[1]

At the beginning of 2005, Rizk was appointed information minister.[1] In July 2005, then Prime Minister Fouad Siniora controversially appointed Rizk as justice minister, a post claimed by Michel Aoun and also by Saad Hariri.[3] The appointment of Rizk, a man close to president Lahoud, was opposed as it was felt that the investigation into the murder of Rafik Hariri would be unlikely to be pursued vigorously by a pro-Lahoud minister. Rizk silenced critics by giving the investigation under UNIIIC-Commissioner Detlev Mehlis his full support while later on he became an outspoken critic of Mehlis' successor Serge Brammertz because of his alleged inactivity in the ongoing investigation.[2]

Rizk's term as justice minister lasted until July 2008. He was not appointed to the national unity government headed by Fouad Siniora and was replaced by Ibrahim Najjar.[4]

Rizk was one the candidates for the Lebanese presidency in 2007.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Lebanon leading presidential candidates". Lebanon Wire. 23 September 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Charles Rizk". Fanoos. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Anti-Syrians dominate in cabinet lineup". The New York Times. 20 July 2005. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Lebanon's 'unity cabinet' announced". Ya Libnan. 11 July 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.