06/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - The GUE/NGL group at the European Parliament is proposing Ghassan Tueni for the Sakharov Prize for 2006 in homage to his “constant commitment for a sovereign and united Lebanon in a pacified regional context”. In a press release the group pointed out that his “wise and noble words” (“I would like to bury him here, with him, all forms of hatred and resentment”), pronounced by Mr Tueni during a funeral oration while buying his son who was a victim in a car bomb attack in Beirut in 2005. The press statement notes that these words “are an excellent illustration of the meaning of the struggle that this eastern Christian is engaged in for the national reconciliation of the Lebanese people”. It also points out that this “advocate of major Arab causes” has also affirmed that “Lebanon cannot be controlled, either by Syria or against Syria”