The Lebanese judge in charge of the investigation into the explosion at the port of Beirut in 2020 returned to work on Monday after a 13-month suspension due to political pressure and decided to indict two senior security officials.
“Judge Tarek Bitar has decided to resume the investigation” into this huge explosion, which on August 4, 2020 killed more than 200 people and injured 6,500 and ravaged entire neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital, an official told AFP. judicial.
The magistrate decided to indict eight people, including two senior security officials, the director of General Security, Abbas Ibrahim and the head of State Security, Tony Saliba, added this official who requested anonymity without specify immediately what they have been charged with.
On the other hand, he ordered the release of five people, including the former director of Customs Chafic Merhi, all arrested since the tragedy.
The explosion was triggered in a warehouse housing hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored carelessly. It has been blamed by much of the population on the corruption and negligence of the ruling class.
Before the suspension of the investigation in December 2021, Judge Bitar had wanted to question MM. Ibrahim and Saliba, while several political and security officials were suspected of being aware of the presence of ammonium nitrate and its dangers.
Judge Bitar’s investigation had been blocked by a series of lawsuits launched against him by politicians and by a campaign led by the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah, the dominant political force in Lebanon.
“Judge Bitar conducted a legal study, under which he took the decision to resume the investigation despite the charges against him,” the judicial official added without further details.
French judges
The Lebanese authorities refused an international investigation, demanded in particular by the relatives of the victims and human rights organizations.
The families of the victims have been fighting for more than two years incessantly to demand justice, and an emblematic figure in their collective was briefly arrested ten days ago for threatening to “blow up the courthouse” out of desperation.
Pointed out for criminal negligence, the authorities are accused by the families of the victims and NGOs of torpedoing the investigation to avoid charges.
Mr. Bitar had before the suspension of the investigation tried to initiate proceedings against a former prime minister, four former ministers and several security officials.
But his work has been blocked by a series of lawsuits against him and a Hezbollah-led campaign that has accused him of bias.
Last week, two French magistrates had met Judge Bitar in Beirut, without obtaining the information they wanted.
An investigation had been opened in France, two French people being among the dead and some 93 French people having been injured.