eight officials placed in pre-trial detention in the investigation into the failure of the dams in Derna

It’s time to take stock. The Attorney General of Libya ordered, Monday, September 25, the pre-trial detention of eight officials as part of an investigation into the rupture of the two dams which led to the deadly floods of Derna on September 10, his office announced. The residents of Derna, whose entire neighborhoods had been swept away by the flood, demonstrated on September 18 to demand that the authorities be held accountable. According to the latest provisional official report, the floods have killed at least 3,868 people, and thousands of other people are missing.

Among the eight Libyans whose prosecutor ordered their placement in pre-trial detention are seven people occupying or having occupied positions of responsibility within the department of hydraulic resources or that of dam management. “The mistakes they made” and their “negligence in disaster prevention” have “contributed” upon the arrival of this catastrophe, believes the prosecutor. According to the latter, the dam management in Libya had reported cracks on the two structures as early as 1998, but no work was done to remedy them.

The mayor of Derna, dismissed with the rest of the municipal council after the tragedy, is also among those affected. He is notably suspected of“abuse of office and mismanagement of funds allocated to the development of the city”.