Beirut- The fifth anniversary of the Beirut port explosion in light of the continuing judicial investigations without the issuance of the accusation decision in the case until now, despite the developments that occurred on the file this year.
The Lebanese Minister of Justice, Adel Nasr, had confirmed that the judge investigator Tariq Al -Bitar is close to ending his investigations in preparation for the issuance of the suspicious decision.
Since the resumption of the investigation last January, after a two -year hiatus, the file of the port explosion returned to the facade with the beginning of a new era led by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who pledged to restore consideration to the independence of the judiciary.
Salam stressed that “no one is above the law,” calling on politicians publicly to lift their hands from the judicial path to ensure the course of justice without interventions.
Despite the progress of the level of judicial transgression and the interrogation of most of the defendants, MP Ghazi Zuaiter and the former discriminatory public prosecutor Ghassan Awaidat are still refusing to appear before the judiciary, hindering the issuance of the final decision in the case.
Plugging the investigation
On the symbolic level, the fifth anniversary of the explosion witnessed public activities and official advertisements to perpetuate the victims, including the launch of their names on a street adjacent to the port, and the cultivation of olive trees bearing their names.
While the Ministry of Culture announced the inclusion of the remaining wreckage of wheat silos on the list of historical buildings, as it is a silent witness to the disaster.
However, these initiatives do not eliminate the fact that justice is still absent, and that any of the officials has not yet been tried. While the families of the victims are awaiting the issuance of the suspicious decision before the end of the year, popular pressures are increasing in light of what many consider a detailed test of the credibility of Lebanese institutions.
In the context, the former head of the State Shura Council, Judge Shukri Sader, confirms, to Al -Jazeera Net, that the investigation of the Bit of Beirut, did not start from the beginning on the serious foundations that qualify him to reach decisive results, adding that “the logical option was the formation of an honest international investigation committee, such as the investigation committee to assassinate Rafik Hariri, especially since what happened on August 4 is a crime against humanity and the largest nuclear explosion in history Hadith.
And the issuance of the responsibility for the deviation from this path, as he described it, holds “the refusal of the former President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, from the first moment of this offering, under the pretext that the Lebanese judiciary is able to reveal the truth within 5 days, which has turned into 5 years of disruption.”
Sader says that Judge Fadi Sawan started the investigation seriously, based on the statements of the port workers, who know – in his opinion – the details of what happened more than the senior officials, but “the investigation collided with a political protection network when he started calling for influential figures, so the obstruction began by submitting successive response requests that were used as a method of systematic disruption.”
It is considered that the decision of the Court of Cassation to remove Sawan “remains a black point in the history of the Lebanese judiciary, as it was based on a flimsy argument related to the judge’s house from the explosion”, which is a damage “hit half of Beirut,” he said.
He points out that “the scenario itself was repeated with Judge Tariq Al -Bitar, as the General Authority of the Court of Cassation paralyzed due to the retirement of one of its members, and no alternative was insisted on it despite the calls, which led to the freezing of the investigation.”
Restore to the powers
In front of this reality – Sadr says – Al -Bitar “decided to restore his powers based on a legal study prepared by the President of the Judicial Council, Philip Khairallah, dates back to 2000, And she confirms that the judicial investigator is not legally returned, “but he notes that” this step remains the subject of controversy, and it is assumed that it will be decided by the Judicial Council later. “
He adds that Judge Al -Bitar “summoned security and political figures who have always refrained from appearing, and began their interrogation, taking advantage of his powers to extract the results from the absence of witnesses or defendants.”
On the recent political developments, Sadr links the election of President Joseph Aoun and the assignment of Nawaf Salam as prime minister, and the return of momentum to the file, considering that “the official statements issued by the President of the Republic and the Minister of Justice represent a positive, even limited sign.”
He concludes by saying: “It is true that the investigation was completed with a rate of approximately 90%, but the Bitar judge is assumed by issuing his suspicious decision, and works to bridge all the gaps, including the direction of new cultivation to obtain satellite images and intelligence reports, to ensure the issuance of a solid decision that cannot be stabbed, as justice is not based on urgency, but rather a legal certainty that is underestimated.”
The expected decision
For his part, the journalist specializing in judicial affairs, Youssef Diab, told Al -Jazeera Net that the domestic investigation path in the Beirut Port Explon is witnessing a qualitative development after the judge investigator Tariq Al -Bitar has completed all investigations related to the file.
Al -Bitar listened to all the defendants and witnesses, and he received answers to all the judicial renovations that he had directed to the Lebanese security services, which means that the largest part of the local judicial work was completed.
Diab adds that what Al -Bitar is awaiting today is to receive the answers to the international resurrection that he had previously sent to European and Arab countries, in addition to the final report of French experts assigned to assist in the investigation.
According to Diab’s information, Judge Al -Bitar has become close to the end of the investigation, in preparation for referring the file to the discriminatory public prosecutor, which will submit its legal reading, before the file returns to the judicial investigator to issue the suspicious decision.
It is likely that the judge bitten Al -Bitar before issuing his final decision, to summon all the defendants who had previously interrogated them and did not make decisions against them yet, to inform them of the measures he will issue.
Here – Diab continues – highlights several possibilities: Will some of them give up with a residence bond? Or are they under investigation? Or do they have arrest warrants against them? They are all options that will be clear at the judge’s estimate and file conditions.
Despite the complications that faced the path of investigation during the past years, Diab believes that the current indicators indicate that it is close to its last stages, suggesting the issuance of the suspicious decision before the end of this year.
Thus, according to me, the Lebanese, especially the families of the victims, hope that the end of this path will be the beginning of the truth: How the explosion happened? Who entered the ammonium nitrate to the port? Who treasured it? And who bears the responsibility for the catastrophic bombing that changed the face of the capital?
“This is the summary of the investigation until now, it may not be the end of the story, but it is the beginning of the path towards revealing the truth and achieving justice.”
“New stage”
In turn, the lawyer and legal expert Nizar Sagia told Al -Jazeera Net, “The most important thing that occurred to the course of the investigation this year is his return to life, after Judge Tariq Al -Bitar resumed his work again in studying the file and interrogating the defendants.”
Sagia stresses that this development is essential, as it is not possible to advance the path of justice before the completion of listening to all the defendants, considering that their abundance may prolong this stage, but it remains essential and inevitable.
As for the second point, it is linked, according to Saghiya, pending the answers to the judicial connotes that the judge had previously sent to foreign countries, and although some responses have not yet arrived, Al -Bitar is currently seeking to accelerate this path in coordination with the relevant authorities.
Nizar Sagia reveals that the interrogations are still continuing, despite the backwardness of two defendants, the former discriminatory public prosecutor Ghassan Awaidat and MP Ghazi Zuaiter, from appearing before the judge, and Sagia believes that Judge Tariq Al -Bitar deals with this abstinence as part of the core of his judicial mission, in preparation for issuing the suspicious decision, based on data that have become almost complete.
He concludes by saying: “Since the largest part of the investigation has been completed, today we are in front of the last stage: the issuance of the suspicious decision,” noting that “the seriousness in dealing with the file, and the suspension of the disruption stopped, they are hoped for the possibility of reaching this expected stage.”