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Beirut: The Lebanese Criminal Court of Cassation ceased the hand of the judicial investigator, Judge Fadi Sawan, from the investigations in the case of the terrible port explosion, in a move that human rights organizations criticized for generating clear political pressure , at the time that the investigation has not come out after six months of the tragedy with a result announced yet.
Today’s isolation of Sawan threatens to bring investigations to a square one, while authorities are under increasing pressure to reveal the results of the investigation into the explosion, which on August 4 killed more than 200 people, injured another 6,500 and destroyed several of the capital’s neighborhoods.
A judicial source said: “The Criminal Court of Cassation headed by Judge Jamal Al-Hajjar decided to transfer the investigation file on the Beirut port explosion from Judge Sawan to another judge,” he has not yet named.
Since his appointment on August 13, Sawan has been investigating the explosion, which authorities attributed to the massive storage of ammonium nitrate for years in a port terminal without protective measures. Officials at various political, security and judicial levels were found to be aware of the dangers of storing them without picking up a finger.
Officials at various political, security and judicial levels were found to be aware of the dangers of storing large quantities of ammonium nitrate for years in a port terminal without lifting a finger.
On December 10, Sawan claimed the interim prime minister, Hassan Diab, and three former ministers, who are former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and former labor ministers Ghazi Zaiter and Youssef Fenianos, but none of them appeared before him in sessions. that he identified for interrogation as “defendants.”
The prosecution raised the objection of the political parties, including Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Hezbollah, against the four officials.
Zuaiter and Khalil, close to the president of the parliament Nabih Berri, subsequently presented a memorandum to the Public Ministry in which they requested that the case be transferred to another judge, after accusing Sawan of violating the constitution by claiming against two former ministers and two deputies in Parliament, while they enjoy constitutional immunity and their prosecution is supposed to pass In the House of Representatives, according to opponents of the prosecution’s decision.
“Red lines”
Despite his observations on Sawan’s performance and his repeated requests for him to release the results of his investigations, human rights organizations viewed his dismissal as a “negative step.”
Lawyer Nizar Saghieh, executive director of the Legal Agenda, an illegal organization that deals with explaining the laws, said Thursday: “Once ministers and the political class refuse to be held accountable, they set a red line for investigation. , and this is very dangerous. “
According to the judicial source, the court considered that the “suspicion” of the two ministers of the “legitimate impartiality” of the judicial investigator, since he was among those affected by the explosion after his home was damaged, considered that this “does that it is difficult for him to make decisions in the case he is investigating and at the same time maintain his impartiality. “
Aya Majzoub, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Beirut, highlighted that Sawan’s deportation due to a memorandum submitted by two former ministers, which he claimed was “a mockery of justice and an insult to the victims of the explosion and the Lebanese people.”
And he considered that “the courts have drawn red lines: politicians are not subject to the rule of law,” adding that “after more than six months, we return to zero.”
The Lebanese judiciary must now initiate the appointment of a new judge to take over the investigation. You will have to see the files that Sawan prepared and start some of them, perhaps again.
The entire political class in Lebanon faces accusations of corruption and abuse of influence
The entire political class in Lebanon is exposed to accusations of corruption and abuse of influence. In October 2019, the protest movements demanded accountability and the withdrawal of the entire political class, which lasted for months and managed to overthrow the government of the time headed by Saad Hariri, but nothing changed in political performance.
Investigations into the explosion have not produced any announced results so far, despite the arrest of at least 25 people, including those responsible for the management and security of the port. Human Rights Watch said they are still being detained “without clear charges being brought, in circumstances that violate their due process rights.”
An international investigation
“This work must end,” Majzoub said. We need answers that Lebanon has shown it cannot provide ”, reiterating its call for an“ independent international investigation as soon as possible ”.
Lebanon refused to conduct an international investigation into the explosion, but a team of French investigators and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation participated in it. Lebanon is still waiting to receive the French report on the causes of the explosion.
The local investigation focuses on the prosecution of those responsible for the negligence for not leaving quantities of ammonium nitrate in the port, at a time when the explosion fueled the anger of the street, which also holds the political class responsible for the disaster.
Dozens of relatives of the victims of the explosion held a protest stage in front of the Palace of Justice, on Thursday night, after Sawan was removed, and they carried banners, some of which said: “Our patience is over, we want the truth. “
A woman whose brother was killed exclaimed, according to Bashir’s television broadcast: “We have no confidence in any of you… you are manipulating us. We won’t wait 15 years to do the right thing. “
A father who lost his young son said: “We lost the loved one, and when Judge Sawan wanted to place his hand on the wound, they took away the file.”
Earlier this month, at the request of Lebanon, Interpol circulated the Red Notice against three people who were declared by the Lebanese judiciary as the owner of the ship carrying ammonium nitrate to Beirut, its captain and the merchant who bought its cargo. .
Over the weekend, Sawan wrote letters to the Lebanese security services, according to which he requested to fully clarify the identities of three Syrian businessmen who also have Russian citizenship, and to verify whether they have a place of residence in Lebanon in preparation to summon them. for the investigation, after media reports indicated they were behind the deal to buy a shipment of ammonium nitrate from Georgia by a bogus UK-based company.
(AFP)
