The Port Blast Investigator Begins Interrogation … and Khalil and Zuaiter Refuse to Come

The two former ministers and representatives in the Lebanese parliament, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zuaiter, are heading to boycott the hearing with them in the file of the port attack, which the judicial investigator, Judge Fadi Sawan, announced that they were summoned for interrogations, given that were not officially informed, Zaiter said, in parallel to a council session. Today’s representatives, please touch this file.
The two former ministers accused in the file, Khalil and Zuaiter, are two representatives in the Lebanese parliament, and enjoy parliamentary immunity that requires prosecution by Parliament and their prosecution, in accordance with Lebanese law, after having their parliamentary immunity removed. , amid a division in the interpretation of the law on the nature of the prosecution and the powers of the judiciary in it. The President of Parliament, Nabih Berri, is chairing today a meeting of the Bureau of the House of Representatives, which will address the file.
Amid the legal and political controversy in the context of the accusations against the interim prime minister, Hassan Diab and the two ministers Khalil (former finance minister) and Zuaiter (former minister of Public Works), and a third former minister, Youssef Fenianos, the Lebanon’s National Information Agency reported that the judicial investigator in the crime of the attack in the port Beirut judge Fadi Sawan, on Wednesday, begins tomorrow the interrogation of Khalil and Zuaiter as defendants, on charges of “negligence, negligence and causing the death and injuries of hundreds of people “, after they were duly informed by correspondence with the General Secretariat of the House of Representatives, as well as at home.
Zuaiter denied being officially cited. He told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: “I have not informed anyone of anything, not in my home or anywhere else,” stating that he will not appear until he has been officially informed. He said that the assumption that he would present formal defenses through his lawyer or personally “are matters under consideration”, highlighting that he adheres to legal and constitutional principles and will act in accordance with them.
The case of Zuaiter and Khalil differs from that of Fenianos, which does not operate any official website and does not enjoy parliamentary immunity. Fenianos, a former Minister of Labor, went yesterday to the Judiciary based on Judge Sawan’s complaint in the file of the explosion, to the Beirut Palace of Justice to hear his testimony, and it was determined that the session was postponed to a date that will be determined later, provided that the date is duly notified.
Sawan also summoned former army chief of staff, retired Major General Walid Salman, to hear his testimony as a witness.
The debate continues on Judge Sawan’s decision, and although some politicians consider the decision to be “selective” and its rejection by the Future Movement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, the decision garnered political support from other parties.
Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused President Michel Aoun of violating the constitution and dominating the Lebanese judiciary. In an interview with the channel “LBCI”, Siniora considered that there are those who intend to transform the democratic system in Lebanon into a presidential system, saying: “Since the beginning of the arrival of President Aoun waging a war against Taif and the war against Taif is a war against the Lebanese. “
Siniora affirmed that it is the right of the judicial investigator, Judge Fadi Sawan, to investigate this file, saying: “The crime of blowing up the port is a crime of the time, and the Lebanese people have the right to know the whole truth.” On the other hand, he stressed that the investigation must be carried out in accordance with constitutional principles. Said, “There is no tent on anyone’s head.”
The political bureau of the “Lebanese Kataeb” party said yesterday in a statement that “the system is trying to insert the judiciary into the maze of alignments of all kinds to bring down investigations into corruption and theft to escape reform, and erase their involvement in killing Lebanese and bombarding them in their safe homes to escape responsibility. “
The “Brigades” expressed their rejection of the “systematic attack carried out by the authorities against the Judiciary and intimidating it to silence it of its crimes”, asking the judicial investigator Fadi Sawan to “complete his work without yielding to pressure and expand his list of accusations to reach everyone involved and the negligent protection of the Lebanese, no matter how high their affairs. “