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Beirut (AFP) – The judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion, Monday, resumed his investigations 13 months following they were suspended as a result of lawsuits filed successively by a number of defendants once morest him, according to a judicial official told AFP.
Judge Tariq Bitar decided to release five detainees since the explosion that rocked the capital in August 2020, including two former officials at the port, in addition to prosecuting eight new people, including two high-ranking security officials, namely the Director General of Public Security, Abbas Ibrahim, and the Director General of State Security, Tony Saliba. According to the judicial official.
The investigation into the explosion, which resulted in more than 215 dead and 6,500 injured in December 2021, was suspended as a result of lawsuits filed successively by defendants, including current deputies and former ministers, once morest the judicial investigator.
The judicial official stated that “Bitar conducted a legal study that led to a decision to resume investigations, despite the lawsuits filed once morest him.”
Bitar had claimed more than a year ago once morest former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former ministers, including former Ministers of Works Youssef Fenianos and Ghazi Zuaiter, and former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil. It was also a request to interrogate both Ibrahim and Saliba.
However, he collided with political interference that prevented the completion of his work, with major forces, most notably Hezbollah, the most prominent political and military player in Lebanon, objecting to his work and accusing him of “politicizing” the file, leading to the demand for his stepping down.
The investigation sank into the labyrinths of politics, and then into judicial chaos, following regarding 20 work cases besieged Bitar, demanding that he stop his hand from the file.
Suspension of the investigation and repeated political interventions in a country where a culture of impunity prevails fuels the anger of the victims’ families and human rights organizations calling on the United Nations to send an independent fact-finding mission, in the face of the faltering of the local investigation.
Bitar’s decision to resume investigations comes regarding a week following he met a French judicial delegation during a visit aimed at inquiring regarding information requested by the French judiciary, which is conducting an investigation in Paris regarding the killing and injury of Frenchmen in the explosion.
© 2023 AFP
