The chief investigator of the August 2020 explosion in the port of Beirut, which left more than 220 people dead, has indicted on Tuesday the country’s attorney general, Ghassan Ueidat, and three other judges just a day after resuming the investigations after nearly thirteen months suspended due to several lawsuits against their work.
Sources quoted by the Lebanese television channel LBCI have detailed that among those charged are also judges Ghassan Juri, Carla Shaua and Jad Maaluf, in addition to the prominent military officers Tony Saliba, Abbas Ibrahim and Asaad Tufaili, head of the High Council of Customs.
In response, the Lebanese Prosecutor’s Office has filed a notice with the courts not to enforce the notices filed by Bitar during the day as it considers them invalid. The judge has not pronounced himself for now on this reaction or the possible steps he might take in the coming hours.
The investigations had been suspended for thirteen months due to numerous lawsuits filed against Bitar trying to have him removed from the case, which has caused great uneasiness 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)
