Under increasing pressure from the Lebanese political class, the judge in charge of the investigation into the explosion at the port of Beirut was again forced on Tuesday, October 12 to suspend his investigations, after issuing an arrest warrant to the against a deputy and ex-minister.
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Supported mainly by the families of the victims of the tragedy which mourned the Lebanese capital in August 2020, Tareq Bitar was the target on Monday evening of a violent verbal attack by the leader of the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah, who accused him of politicizing the 'investigation and requested its replacement.
The authorities, accused of torpedoing the investigation
The magistrate had already had to suspend his investigation at the end of September, after a complaint filed against him by a deputy and ex-minister suspected of involvement in the explosion which left more than 200 dead and 6,500 injured, and devastated entire districts of Beirut .
He had resumed his job last week after an appeals court dismissed the MP's complaint and other similar complaints aimed at his dismissal.
On Tuesday morning, Bitar issued an arrest warrant against one of the deputies in question and former Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, a member of the Shiite movement Amal, an ally of Hezbollah, who did not appear for questioning and delegated his lawyer.
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It is too much disaster for the Lebanese people
"
But he was forced a few hours later to suspend his investigation following new complaints filed by Khalil and another deputy and ex-minister of Amal, Ghazi Zaayter, before the court of cassation, a judicial source told the 'AFP. "
This caused a suspension of the investigation and the end of all scheduled interrogations
", pending the court decision, said this source.
The magistrate was trying to take advantage of a period during which deputies do not have parliamentary immunity, before the opening of the autumn session of the hemicycle on October 19.
Politicians of all stripes refuse to be questioned by the judge, even though authorities have blamed the tragedy on the careless storage of huge quantities of ammonium nitrate.
Blamed for criminal negligence, the authorities have rejected any international investigation and are accused by the families of the victims and NGOs of torpedoing the local investigation to avoid charges.
"
Prevent the judge from working
"
"
There is a political decision not to allow the judge to work,
" reacted Nizar Saghieh, director of the legal NGO Legal Agenda.
"
The forces challenging him are exhausting all legal remedies for the moment, but it is clear that some parties are ready to resort to non-legal means to prevent him from working,
" he told AFP.
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According to Saghieh, the speech of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who accused the judge on Monday evening of politicizing the investigation and called for his replacement by an “
honest and transparent
”
magistrate
, showed that the political class had “
lost patience
”. For the past few weeks, Judge Bitar has been at the heart of a smear campaign and the subject of intense pressure and has even been threatened by a senior Hezbollah official.
Some fear that the magistrate will meet the same fate as his predecessor, Fadi Sawan, dismissed in February after the indictment of senior officials.
Aya Majzoub of Human Rights Watch said that "
the course of action taken by politicians in the case is a travesty
" of justice.
"
Politicians are filing any complaints they can think of to suspend the investigation (...) in a ridiculous attempt to escape justice,
" she told AFP.
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Since inheriting the case, Bitar has summoned ex-prime minister Hassan Diab and four ex-ministers for indictment.
On September 16, he issued an unenforced arrest warrant against the former Minister of Transport, Youssef Fenianos, a member of a Christian party close to Hezbollah.
