Lebanese Judge Tarek Bitar has resumed on Monday the investigations into the August 2020 explosion in the port of the capital Beirut, after more than a year suspended due to several lawsuits against him that led to the paralysis of the investigations.
Bitar has detailed in statements to the newspaper ‘L’Orient le Jour’ that the restart of the investigations has been adopted after «legal studies carried out for a month to get out of the paralysis in which the investigation was plunged by multiple judicial appeals».
According to information reported by the Lebanese television channel Al Jadid, Bitar decided during the day to release five of the detainees in the case, without further details of the measure having been made public for the moment.
Those released are the former director of Customs Chafik Merhi, the former director of operations at the port Sami Husein, the director of projects at the port of the capital Michel Nahul, Ahmad Raja, a Syrian worker who participated in the maintenance work at the warehouse where the explosion occurred, Selim Chebli, a businessman in charge of supervising this work.
The investigations have been suspended for thirteen months due to numerous lawsuits filed against Bitar in an attempt to have him removed from the case, which has caused great unrest among the families of the victims of the explosion, which left more than 200 dead.
Bitar replaced Fadi Sauan after he was removed from the case following a series of complaints filed by high-ranking officials summoned to testify, including former Interior Minister Nuhad Machnuk, although lawsuits by several former ministers summoned to testify also led to the suspension of his investigations.
Popular unrest has been on the rise in recent months due to the blocking of investigations and delays in lifting the immunity of former ministers and parliamentarians who have been summoned by Judge Bitar to testify as part of the inquiries, including former Prime Minister Hasan Diab, who resigned amid the wave of protests following the event.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
