Tarek Bitar, investigating judge at the Court of Justice in the case of the deadly double explosion of August 4, 2020 at the port of Beirut, was again dismissed from the investigation, Thursday, November 4, following a recusal filed by the former Minister of Public Works and Transport, Youssef Fenianos, who refuses to appear before him.

Appointed at the head of this investigation in February 2021, while he had presided over the Criminal Court since 2017, the judge is not on his first suspension.

Targeted by a campaign of pressure for several weeks by Hezbollah and its allies who accuse him of being politicized and who demand his recusal, he has already been forced to suspend his work twice, in September and October.

Before him, Judge Fadi Sawan, in charge of the same case, was challenged on February 18, 2021, after the Court of Cassation responded favorably to a request filed by two former ministers whom he had indicted for negligence.

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"We expected them to come back to try to dismiss Judge Bitar. We got used to it since they succeeded in removing Judge Sawan", enraged Antonella Hitti, sister of a victim, reached on the phone by France 24.

On August 4, 2020, his brother Najib Hitti, his cousin Charbel Hitti and his brother-in-law Charbel Karam were killed in the port of Beirut, where their team of firefighters had been sent a few minutes before the explosions. 

"This is news that hurts a lot, like every time Judge Bitar is suspended," said Paul Naggear, who lost his 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra, on August 4, 2020.

"Even if from the start, with my wife, we never really expected much from the local investigation, in a country without the rule of law, and most of our efforts were focused on justice strategies international, the relentlessness of this mafia to escape justice disgusts us deeply, "he told France 24.

"It's very likely over for Judge Bitar"

If the first two times, the Lebanese judicial system ruled in favor of Judge Tarek Bitar in the face of politicians who filed appeals against him in order to escape his summons, the magistrate is very likely this time to be definitively removed from the court. investigation.

An inevitable outcome according to the families of the victims who blame the blow.

Because, according to the Lebanese media, the civil chamber of the Beirut Court of Appeal, responsible for studying the recusal appeal against judge Tarek Bitar, is chaired by a magistrate they describe as known for his proximity to the movement. Shiite Amal, by the very influential Nabih Berri. Ally of Hezbollah, this former Lebanese warlord has been the indestructible president of Parliament since 1992. And his most loyal right-hand man is none other than the deputy and former Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil, targeted by a mandate of judgment issued by… Judge Tarek Bitar.

"We say to ourselves that this time, it's very probably over for Judge Bitar, because the magistrate who will rule on his case and his case is, according to our sources, a pro-Berri, that is to say a close friend of the President of Parliament, one of whose most faithful traveling companions refuses to be questioned as part of the investigation, adds Paul Naggear. When we see the fight that certain political camps are waging against this judge, against the truth and against justice, we say to ourselves that there is a very good chance that it will be over ”.

Concretely, until his case is studied in the civil chamber of the Beirut Court of Appeal, the investigation will remain at a standstill. "This means that our quest for justice will still take several months of delay, before a negative opinion is most likely given against us", regrets Paul Naggear, who already fears his possible successor. "There aren't many judges of Tarek Bitar's caliber available in the country anymore, that's also terrible."

A pessimism shared by Antonella Hitti. "There is a fear that they will get their way, it's sad but we are realistic, and it is a possibility that we must now consider, because there is a lot going on behind the scenes that we do not understand". "We know that they are afraid of this investigation, she adds. Because they cannot manipulate this judge as they please, that is why they do everything that is legally possible, but also illegally, to remove it, even if it means threatening civil peace, as they recently proved during the clashes in Beirut ".

On October 14, deadly violence erupted on the sidelines of a demonstration organized by Hezbollah and the Amal movement, to demand the relinquishment of judge Tarek Bitar.

These scenes of urban guerrillas left seven dead and reminded the Lebanese of certain bloody episodes of the civil war (1975-1990).

"We have nothing more to lose if we are put with our backs to the wall"

"The goal of this whole campaign is to scare the Lebanese, who are being made to understand that a war risks breaking out at any time in the country because of a judge who works very seriously - too seriously, in the eyes of some - to reveal to us who killed our people ", bitterly laments Antonella Hitti. 

“Some of us have warned that if we do not come to the truth through justice, all options will be on the table for us to succeed,” she continues. this crime will have to bear the consequences, because we are at the end of the line and we have nothing more to lose if we are put with our backs to the wall ".

As tension crystallizes around this issue, politically, the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been paralyzed for three weeks.

And this, after the Shiite political tandem had brought its standoff against the magistrate within the Council of Ministers itself, by demanding that a position be taken in the Council of Ministers on the relinquishment of the examining magistrate.

>> Read also on France24.com: Explosions in Beirut: the government paralyzed by the campaign against judge Tarek Bitar

"Only a miracle during the next legislative elections in March can get us out of this situation and allow alternative political parties to form a strong opposition bloc. Because we see no other way to obtain justice here in Lebanon. , without getting rid of the ruling clique, ”concludes Paul Naggear.

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