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Fadi Sawan, the judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion case, suspended investigations for 10 days after two former ministers submitted a memorandum requesting that the case be transferred to another judge, according to a judicial source informed by Agence France-Presse. .
On December 10, Sawan had brought charges against Acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former Ministers, namely: Former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, and former Minister of Public Works Ghazi Zaiter and Youssef Fenianos, but none of them appeared. before him at the sessions he specified for questioning as “Defendants.”
Lebanese authorities are investigating the explosion, which occurred on August 4, and attributed it to the storage of large quantities of ammonium nitrate for years in one of the port’s pavilions without preventive measures. It turns out that officials at various levels were aware of the dangers of storing them without picking up a finger.
Zuaiter and Khalil, close to the president of Parliament, Nabih Berri, presented a memorandum to the Public Ministry, requesting that the case be transferred to another judge, after they accused Sawan of violating the constitution by claiming against two former ministers and two deputies of Parliament .
The judicial source clarified that “the request was sent to the Criminal Cassation Court”, indicating that “all parties to the case, from the Public Ministry of Cassation to the judicial investigator and the Bar Association with its agency for the plaintiffs affected by the explosion, they have a period of 10 days to respond to this memorandum ”. As a result, the source claimed that Sawan “has suspended all investigative procedures until the Court of Cassation decides on the request to transfer the case.”
Consequently, last Monday a session that was scheduled for today to question Diab was canceled, who did not appear in a first session.
Currently, there is a divergence of views in Lebanon regarding the authority of the authorized party to prosecute the prime minister, ministers and deputies in the case of the port.
The prosecution raised the objection of several political parties against the four officials, including Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Hezbollah. Opponents of Sawan’s decision consider his claim to constitute a violation of the constitution, especially in terms of constitutional immunity, as ministers are being prosecuted through the House of Representatives. Last month, Sawan asked Parliament to investigate current and former ministers on suspicion of their shortcomings in dealing with the presence of ammonium nitrate in the port. However, Parliament rejected his request, thus initiating the prosecution of the four officials on charges of “negligence, negligence and causing death” and injuring hundreds of people.
According to the Legal Agenda, which is a non-governmental organization specialized in legal matters and concerned with explaining and interpreting the laws, “constitutional immunity includes the breaking of the ministerial position, and does not include the exploitation of this position, and therefore neither murder or corruption. ” The legal advisor warned that “all this continues to be an attempt to calm public opinion if it is not accompanied by serious investigations into the responsibility of these and other ministers who have not yet been summoned.” More than a month ago, the Beirut Bar Association filed hundreds of criminal complaints with the Attorney General for discrimination on behalf of those affected. The blast killed 200 people and injured 6,500 others. And he fueled the anger of the street, outraged against the entire political class, accusing it of corruption and negligence, and now holding it responsible for the disaster.
Disagreement on the authority of the authorized party to prosecute the prime minister and ministers.
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