Explosions at the port of Beirut: one year later, where is the investigation?

Emergency aid of 350 million dollars, one year after the explosions in the port of Beirut.

This is the objective of the international conference which will be held on Wednesday under the aegis of France and the United Nations, and which will bring together some forty countries.

One year to the day after the explosion of the port of Beirut, which left more than 200 dead and thousands of injured, the country sank into a major political and economic crisis.

Thousands of residents are still homeless and only half of the 8,000 damaged buildings are repaired.

The Lebanese continue to demand truth and justice, because the investigation into the explosion has yet to yield anything.

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None of the top Lebanese state officials have been blamed

The investigation aims to answer several questions: how could an explosive cocktail of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate remain in the heart of Beirut for six years, or even how and why this explosion occurred?

Today, the Lebanese have no answer.

In one year, 17 people have been indicted: employees and managers of the port in particular, but none of the senior officials of the Lebanese state have been implicated.

"The main obstacle is the refusal of political leaders to submit to justice and to lift the immunity of senior leaders who are suspected of being involved in the explosion," said Ghida Frangieh, a lawyer who follows the survey for the Lebanese NGO Legal Agenda.

"The investigation into the explosion has become a symbol to end what is called the regime of legal impunity, and this is the real challenge, this is the danger that this national survey. "

"We live in a state which is run by a criminal mafia"

An investigation at a standstill, particularly difficult for the victims and their families to bear. For them, no accusations in this case, it means no insurance compensation, but above all the impossibility of mourning. "The year has been horrible. It's a lot of pain, every day, every second, it's a lot of lack and it's not also being able to mourn", explains Paul Naggear, who lost his daughter. three and a half years after the explosion. "It's a mourning that is postponed because every day, it's a battle. We do not live in a state of law, we live in a state that is managed by a criminal mafia. We reject mourning. We have to fight every day for justice and truth, for our daughter.

For his daughter, for all the victims of August 4, and to know the truth about the explosion, Paul Naggear and thousands of Lebanese will be in the streets on Wednesday afternoon.