Explosions in the port of Beirut: the judge in charge of the investigation dismissed the case
A view of the Port of Beirut after the explosion of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that killed 200 people, injured 5,000 and left over 250,000 people homeless.
© REUTERS / Mohamed Azakir
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In Lebanon, Fadi Sawan, the investigating judge in charge of the investigation into the explosions at the port of Beirut, was removed from the case.
This decision taken by the Court of Cassation follows an appeal for “legitimate suspicion” presented by two former ministers indicted for “negligence” in this case.
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With our correspondent in Beirut
,
Paul Khalifeh
The disavowal is scathing.
The Court of Cassation justified its decision to dismiss Judge Fadi Sawan with two arguments, legal and personal.
On the legal level, the court considered that the examining magistrate had himself violated the law by affirming that he would not back down in front of "
no immunity
" or "
red line
" in his investigation.
These comments are problematic, because according to the Constitution, presidents, prime ministers and ministers can only be tried by a special court created by Parliament.
On a personal level, the Court of Cassation emphasizes that the apartment of Judge Fadi Sawan, in the Achrafieh district severely affected by the tragedy of August 4, 2020, was damaged by the explosion.
Consequently, the magistrate was "
directly affected by the explosion
", which calls into question his objectivity in the case, according to the Court of Cassation.
These arguments did not convince the families
of the August 4 victims
.
Their spokesperson accused the "political leaders" of having killed them a second time by stopping the investigation supposed to shed light on the tragedy.
More than six months after the double explosion which left 200 dead and more than 6,500 injured, the investigation is therefore back to square one.
After the disavowal of Fadi Sawan, whoever succeeds him will have to arm himself with great courage to challenge politicians.
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