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Suwan is supposed to question the acting prime minister today (Hussein Baydoun / Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)
Today, Monday, the focus is on the “government palace”, where the judicial investigator of the Beirut port explosion, Judge Fadi Sawan, is supposed to question the head of the provisional government, Hassan Diab, accused of the crime of negligence and negligence and causing death and injury to hundreds of people.
The fate of the “session” remains unclear, after the “political and sectarian uprising” that raised the slogan “The site of the third presidency is a red line,” accused Judge Sawan of a torrent of accusations and placed his step in the context of “conspiracy, prejudice and intentional political goals.”
The President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, was also accused of interfering in the investigations, which his media office denied, and that “any allegation must start from the top of the pyramid, that is, the first presidency.”
A source close to Diab told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the interim prime minister will decide this morning, and any other media outlet talking about confirming the issue of not appearing before Judge Sawan linked to Diab’s reference in his statement that said: “What you have in this file AND a dot on the line.”
He stressed that “Diab does not try to evade and is not afraid because he believes in cleaning his hands, and he adheres to the law and the constitution, which are the main criteria for any position he takes.” The same source explained that Diab moved home a week after the Beirut port explosion, and it is not true that he left the Saraya on Sunday, intentionally not to receive Sawan.
The same questions are also raised as to whether the three former ministers, also defendants Ghazi Zuaiter, Ali Hassan Khalil and Youssef Fenianous, will go to Judge Sawan’s office, where he is scheduled for questioning on Tuesday and Wednesday, noting that the atmosphere current suggests that they refuse to appear before him on the same pretext as Diab. The legal abuses committed by the judicial investigator and the political focus “.
A source from the “Marada Movement” (headed by Suleiman Franjieh) told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that Fenianus, who belongs to Al-Marada, has not yet made his decision, and that he is not afraid of anything, although he is sure that he will be subject to political attacks and await the footsteps of Diab, Khalil and Zaiter.
Lawyer Haitham Ezzo told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the judicial investigator’s step to initiate criminal proceedings against ministers, who are current deputies like Zuaiter and Khalil, came very late, especially since the House of Representatives is currently in its second sentencing session, which begins, according to article 32 of the Constitution, from the Tuesday following October 15 and continuing until the end of the year.
Izzo explained that the initiative to initiate a criminal process conflicts with Article 40 of the Constitution, which stipulates that “it is not allowed to take criminal measures, during the session, against any member of the Council or arrest him if he commits a crime without the permission of the Council, Except in the case of flagrante delicto. And it is certainly not the case of the two deputies mentioned above due to the lack of criminal involvement in them.
Izzo indicates that as a consequence, the judicial investigator is obliged to initiate criminal proceedings against them. Either obtaining prior permission from the House of Representatives to be able to direct criminal proceedings against them or to await the termination of the governmental session of the House of Representatives, otherwise the investigation directed towards them will be contrary to the mentioned constitutional text.
It is noted that there is another legal obstacle that prevents the judicial investigator from having the right to initiate the direct questioning of some ministers belonging to the Illustrious Bar Association (Zaaiter, Fenianos and Khalil), since the judicial investigator must first inform the President of the Bar Association for not having witnessed the crime, in accordance with the provisions of article 79 of the Law on Organization of the Profession. The law firm.
The lawyer Ezzo explains that, in principle and away from the issue of the aforementioned legal impediment, if the defendants were unable to attend or did not send lawyers on their behalf to stop to present formal arguments, then the judicial investigator can postpone the appointment to a later date in in case it is demonstrated with a legitimate excuse and free admission. Their presence in front of him, as if there is a risk to the health or safety of their movement, or they move with their writer to the place where they can be questioned.
It indicated that in the absence of the aforementioned excuse, the judicial investigator has the right to draw up a summons in his right that includes a written order to the security forces to ensure that they are taken by the General Force 24 hours before the scheduled session for questioning , given that the judicial investigator actually exercises the role of investigating judge and these powers are based on sentences. Articles 75 and 106 are linked to the provisions of articles 362 and 363 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Ezzo emphasizes that “the most important of all, and given the inability of parliament to automatically exercise its power to investigate ministers suspected of being involved in port crime due to negligence or negligence in their functions, it is necessary for the judiciary to assume this authority, which is not limited solely to parliament, according to the legislative wording of article 70 of the Constitution.
In another scenario, the possibility that Judge Sawan will resign, according to the expression of a judicial source familiar with the file, from “The New Arab” is still very possible, especially after the political attack to which he was subjected with the “club of former prime ministers “who supports Diab and declares his solidarity with him. A step also taken by Dar Al-Fatwa.
Furthermore, there is a lack of public confidence in the local investigation that, of course, Sawan has carried out since his appointment on 13 August.
The surroundings of Sawan’s house witnessed numerous protest movements in opposition to the slow progress of the investigations that was clouded by many questions and ambiguities, and the arrests that did not last, four months after the explosion, any political figure.
In the event that the judicial investigator withdraws from the file, lawyer Ezzo says: “Things are returned to zero point, so a new judge must be appointed in his place to complete the judicial task, and this is by decision of the Minister of Justice, based on a decision approved by the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, based on article 360 of the Criminal Procedures Law “.
Attribution added: “The decision of the council in this regard is binding on the Minister of Justice, whose decision to appoint the judicial investigator is merely a formal procedure in which she declares what the aforementioned council agrees, since the aforementioned text obligated the Minister of Justice to appoint the judicial investigator based on the approval of this council, without evidence of his authority In his participation in this matter, since the judiciary is independent of the executive branch.
These events are accompanied by a battle of statements that raised the ceiling of internal disputes and mutual accusations, especially at the head of President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, whose parliamentary bloc, “El Futuro”, attacked the policies on Sunday. obstructionists that Aoun was pursuing “as a blessing to the eyes of the brother-in-law”, that is to say the deputy. Gebran Bassil.
The bloc says Aoun continues his obstructionist policies by “setting standards and adhering to the third-party obstructor,” as he put it, increasing the obstacles preventing the government from arriving soon, especially since there is a group presented by Hariri to President Aoun, who it was accompanied by an integrated proposal from the President of the Republic. Complications double before French President Emmanuel Macron’s upcoming visit to Lebanon next week.
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