676 Demand before the Public Ministry Falanges

The investigation into the Beirut port explosion has yet to be issued despite promises by the ruling political class to speed up the results, but the quota system appears to be more important to the authority than to the affected citizen.

The head of the interim government, Hassan Diab, declared when the August 4 attack occurred that the investigation “will not be long,” setting five days as the maximum term. This happened only four days after the attack, which means that, according to President Diab’s considerations, the investigation was supposed to reveal who was responsible for what happened in mid-August. However, contrary to the promise, it turned out Lebanese style. The file passed from the custody of one judge to another and investigations began, but the official did not appear.
Three and a half months have passed, and according to the Al-Akhbar newspaper, the people who were injured and whose houses were destroyed, as well as the families of 192 victims, are still waiting for their general right … which does not come. Faced with this reality, the people had to “take” their rights into their own hands, so they collected all possible documents and filed them – with the help of the Beirut Bar Association – personal criminal trials before all those who were present. involved in their death, displacement from their homes and deprivation of their livelihoods.
The news said that the beginning was on the 28th of last month, with the Union filing 676 cases before the Public Ministry, which is “like the prosecutor of the Judicial Council, which today handles the investigations,” says lawyer Essam El-Khoury, one of the supervisors of the central crisis cell that forms the union with the transfer of the file of the attack to the judicial court. There, the lawyers were able to participate in the hearings and be informed of the progress of the investigations. This participation was the gateway for the union to begin working on collecting complaints from individuals and preparing them as criminal cases. Seven centers were established in the most affected areas, such as Mar Mikhael al-Nahr and Karantina, the result of which was the collection of documents from some 1,450 files, which were prepared as a first batch, while the second batch of cases is expected in the next weeks.
The files of those affected were divided according to the nature of each one of them, and there were complaints of those physically damaged (owners of houses, cars, companies …) and those psychically affected, that is, the relatives of the victims and the wounded. Dividing the cases on this basis took time, because what is required is “that the complaints be adapted to the situation of the file,” according to al-Khoury, and this required an effort also made by several lawyers, on a voluntary basis.
It is true that the purpose of these lawsuits is not to block the state’s reluctance and absence in relation to compensation and to bring people together before the storms (which did not happen), but to ensure their right to access justice. Or more precisely, preserve this right before the courts so that they do not lose – with the passage of time – their right to compensation. This step is necessary to create files that will be the basis for collecting compensation from those affected. This is the basic idea, according to Al-Khoury.
As for who are these lawsuits being brought to? In “The Face of Everyone Involved,” says the Bar’s director, Melhem Khalaf. Who are they? Khalaf refuses to “belittle the act by suspending responsibility to the rank of an officer,” while what is required is to expand the “bikar” circle, to include all those who caused displacement, death or injury, which was intended of the lawsuits. From here, Khalaf points out that the Union requested during the last period the inclusion of the State as the main party in the lawsuit and what follows and expanding the claim to include organizations, companies and a number of people, so that the case advances “in the responsibilities vertically”.
Khalaf is counting on this expansion, since it is, according to him, “a fundamental and fundamental point in the history of the country. Either we go through it to be accountable and we consider that what was before August 4 is not like after, or there is no future nor hope of realizing the truth. ” The problem here is limited to the corridors of the judiciary.