After a thirteen-month suspension due to political interference, judge Tarek Bitar in charge of the investigation into the explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020, relaunched the investigations on Monday. The explosion of 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, stored without precautionary measures in the port, left 220 dead, 6,500 injured and destroyed part of the Lebanese capital.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
Tarek Bitar took aim Monday, January 23 by initiating proceedings against the powerful head of General Security, Abbas Ibrahim, and the head of State Security, Tony Saliba.
The two senior officers were summoned to appear before the magistrate as charged, alongside six other suspects. It is not yet known whether they will respond to the summons.
The investigating judge also decided to release five of the seventeen people still detained for nearly two years as part of the investigation.
The magistrate explained his decision to relaunch the investigations by “ legal studies carried out to break the impasse in which multiple legal actions have placed the investigation “.
The judge’s decisions sparked mixed reactions in Beirut.
Battle against impunity
Minister of Justice Henri Khoury seems unhappy and insisted on ” the need to preserve the secrecy of the investigation “.
Other voices, however, applauded the judge’s move.
For Nizar Saghieh, director of the influential NGO Legal Agenda, active in the legal field, Tarek Bitar has “ launched a battle against impunity cultivated by the political class.
► To read also: Two years after the explosion of the port, the trauma of the Lebanese and the wounds of Beirut persist