Five years have passed, since that fateful day when a professional, organized and trained group pursued Lokman Slim in broad daylight from his home in Haret Hreik to the home of a friend of his in the town of Niha, where they waited for him for several hours to come out, then kidnapped him in the darkness of the night and drove him for a distance of forty kilometers to the Addousieh area where they assassinated him with five bullets in the head and one bullet in the back.

Five years have passed, and the Slim family is still pursuing the investigation to find out who carried out the kidnapping and assassination, but also who ordered them to do so, who planned and who covered them up.

Five years have passed, and the Slim family has been saying with one voice: We want justice, not revenge. We want justice that breaks the culture of impunity. We want a Lebanese justice of international standard, and not international justice in Lebanon.

For five years, the Slim family never rested in following the course of the investigation, in all its stages and before all the authorities that conducted it.

For five years, the Slim family has been keeping pace with the security forces and the judicial authorities in their work, maintaining the confidentiality of the investigation in order to preserve its seriousness and its effectiveness.

There were many obstacles. One year ago, on this very day, we objected within the bounds of the law when a judge decided to close the file. The Slim family fought this decision using all legitimate legal means available under Lebanese law, and succeeded in reopening the investigation. The Court of Cassation confirmed that there were grounds to transfer the case to another judge, and that is what happened. Today, we say it with great hope: the investigation into the assassination of Lokman Slim has returned to the forefront, and it is now in the hands of a judge who is performing their duty with integrity, honesty, methodology, and professionalism.

This new approach to the issue coincided with the starting of the presidency of H.E. Joseph Aoun, the formation of the cabinet of H.E. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and the appointment of the lawyer and human rights advocate Adel Nassar as Minister of Justice. One must not forget H.E. Minister Nassar's efforts in reopening investigations into all the numerous political assassination cases in Lebanon, most of which had been closed without identifying or punishing the perpetrators.

On the fifth anniversary of Lokman Slim's assassination, we say: It is time to turn the page on impunity, especially in cases of political assassinations. It is time to end the era in which murder was a permissible method. It is time to knock on the doors of an era that has no connection to the time of no-justice. It is time for Lebanon to return to being a country of true freedom, genuine democracy, and guaranteed justice.

It is time for accountability in Lebanon. It is time for every criminal to know that they will not escape punishment, no matter how long it takes. It is time for the fear to shift from the victims to the perpetrators. It is time for Lebanon to have a capable and effective state with all its institutions, including its security and judicial branches.

The family of Lokman Slim reiterates that they will follow the investigation to its conclusion, leading to the trial of those involved in the kidnapping and assassination operations, hoping that the killing of Lokman Slim will mark the end of the era of no-state in Lebanon and the beginning of an era of the rule of law, of truth and of justice .