Karim Pakradouni

Karim Pakradouni (Armenian Քերիմ Բագրատունի, Arabic كريم بقرادوني; born August 18, 1944 in Bourj Hammoud in Beirut ) is a Lebanese lawyer; he was an Armenian Apostolic Christian who is now converted to the Maronites.

Pakradouni was born the son of Armenian Orthodox father and a Maronite mother. He has no family relationship with the political elite of Lebanon. His father Minas Pakradounian left Armenia in 1920 and settled in Aleppo, before he moved to the United Lebanon a few years later.

Pakradouni, who graduated from the Université Saint -Joseph, in 1968 was one of the leading figures in the Kata'ib Party and was founded in 1970 was elected to the political leadership of the party. He led the so-called group of " Arabists " in the Phalange, which favored close ties with Syria. During the 1980s he was a leading figure in the Lebanese Forces. In 2004 he was Minister of State for Administrative Development in the government of Rafic Hariri.