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Radwan Mortada
The head of the Beirut Criminal Court, Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, was chosen to be the forensic investigator of the bomb attack in the port of Beirut. Al-Bitar, who was appointed by the Minister of Justice to the same position last August, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary was quick to not approve it, on the pretext that “he does not want to undertake the investigation for private reasons.” before it became clear that he had agreed to undertake the mission. Today, Al-Bitar is a researcher. Will you correct the investigation into the largest explosion in Lebanon again?
The repercussions of the deportation of Judge Fadi Sawan from the forensic investigation of the Beirut port explosion have continued, amid divisions over the fate of the investigation and the truth sought from it. Was the investigation carried out or is there an opportunity to discover the truth of what happened in the port of Beirut if the case were to be corrected again? Speaking of weaving a plot to fly flint for their daring to say that “it will not stop at the limits of any immunity,” they forgot that Sawan himself did not summon any of the judges responsible for floating the Roussos ship and storing 2,700 tons. of ammonium nitrate in Pavilion No. 12 of the port of Beirut, and others kept in The “bomb”, since it exploded after more than 6 years of storage. The judge, who said he would not care about immunities, invoked the existence of special rules for prosecuting judges in order to back them up. The Criminal Court of Cassation, which the day before yesterday decided to prevent Suwan’s hand from continuing the investigation, had asked him why he had not summoned the judges named in the port explosion file, and if this was a confusion of his negligence and favoritism . because they were his colleagues, and he replied that he has no jurisdiction to prosecute judges. In this case, he established immunity for his companions in a crime referred to the Council of the Judiciary. Sawan fears the privileges of judges and overlooks, perhaps intentionally or unintentionally, that referring to the Judicial Council suspends all the powers of the special courts. For example, if an officer commits a crime and the file is referred to the Judicial Council, the suspected officer will not be prosecuted before his own court, the military court, but will be prosecuted before the Judicial Council. The same occurs with the hypothesis that a judge introduced explosives into the Palace of Justice and detonated it, then referred the file to the Judicial Council. In this case, he will not be prosecuted like any other suspect, but will be tried by the Judicial Council.
In the case of ammonium nitrate, Sawan was not convinced whether this shipment had been sent to Lebanon to be stored on Lebanese soil and subsequently used elsewhere. It has not yet been proven that there was a criminal attempt behind the nitrate storage, or that this resulted from “the accumulation of a group of projectiles.” In all cases, there are judges who decided to empty the ship and store the nitrates and keep it in port, without Suwan bothering to listen to their testimonies.
The day before yesterday Sawan’s page appeared. And yesterday, the rams reached their strongest point. And to the rhythm of the media pressure and the sit-in of the families of the martyrs on August 4, Justice Minister Marie-Claude Negm suggested the name of Judge Samer Younes to name a criminal investigation of the crime, succeeding Judge Sawan, who He was deported by decision of the Criminal Court of Cassation, for “legitimate suspicion.” However, the Supreme Judicial Council renewed for the second time its refusal to approve Judge Yunus, whose name was previously rejected last August. Following yesterday’s refusal, Najm sent the name of Judge Tariq Al-Bitar to the Supreme Judicial Council. Last August he did the same. At the time, it was reported that he rejected the forensic investigation. However, judicial sources confirmed that Al-Bitar did not refuse that day, but informed the Supreme Council of the Judiciary that this task should not be subject to restrictions and its borders are open. He said verbatim: “I’m not enthusiastic, but if I hand over this file, I will review it to the end.” However, the Supreme Judicial Council considered this reluctance and informed the Minister of Justice that Al-Bitar refused to be a forensic investigator of the port crime.
Last August, Al-Bitar was assigned to a position of refusing to take over the investigation, which it turned out he did not say.
Several judges said that some members of the Supreme Judicial Council wanted to overthrow Al-Bitar, thus distorting his position, for which Judge Sawan was appointed judicial investigator. On the other hand, judicial sources confirmed that the position of judge Al-Bitar before the Council of the Judiciary indicated that he did not want the mission, since he said in the Council that if there was no other judge willing to take on the task, he would take over . that. This is what the Council members understood that he rejected, given that colleagues of Judge Al-Bitar have reported that he apologized that he will not be allowed to do justice, and will not settle for the application of the law if justice is not provided to the families of the victims.
The same scene was repeated yesterday. After the Minister of Justice suggested the name of Al-Bitar, he was summoned to the Supreme Council of the Judiciary to consult with him, who informed the attendees of his willingness to undertake this task, but did not ask the center and if he is assigned, it will proceed to the end. In conclusion, the Supreme Judicial Council yesterday agreed to appoint Al-Bitar as the new judicial investigator, provided that the appointment decree is issued soon.
A son of the town of Idamoun in Akkar, he joined the judiciary after graduating from the legal profession, to be among the first in the Institute of Judicial Studies. He became famous after passing a death sentence against Tariq Yateem in the case of the murder of George Al-Rif, and a similar sentence against Muhammad Al-Ahmar for the murder of Roy Hamoush. Since yesterday, he has faced a new test: will he proceed in the same discretionary manner as his predecessor, Judge Sawan? Or will the investigation be open to all possibilities, without addressing immunities, whether political or legal?
