BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prosecutor investigating final summer time’s horrific explosion on the Beirut port has paused the probe for 10 days, following authorized challenges to his authority by the identical senior officers he accused of negligence that led to the blast, the nation’s official information company mentioned Thursday.
The event, reported by Lebanon’s Nationwide Information Company, comes after a stormy week that solid doubt on the destiny of the investigation into the Aug. 4 blast that killed over 200 individuals and destroyed elements of Beirut.
The authorized battle has muddled the probe into what was one of many largest non-nuclear explosions in historical past, in a rustic the place a tradition of impunity has prevailed for many years. Many critics have seen it as an try by the political elite to forestall setting a precedent which may deliver accountability to the very best degree.
In line with the report, Choose Fadi Sawwan’s determination to pause the probe will enable him to reply to accusations that he violated authorized and constitutional procedures by summoning for questioning Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and three former ministers on suspicion of negligence that led to the lethal explosion.
The summoning sparked concerted criticism from most of Lebanon’s high politicians and the militant Hezbollah group, which urged Sawwan to rethink his determination, describing it as politically motivated.
Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the three former ministers didn’t present as much as the scheduled interrogation final week.
Then two of the accused former ministers, who’re at present lawmakers in parliament, challenged Sawwan’s determination and requested the Courtroom of Cassation to exchange him, citing “official suspicion” over its legality. The decide, and the Bar Affiliation which represents the households, have 10 days to reply to the problem. The courtroom, the very best within the nation, then decides on the matter.
Most of Lebanon’s political management and safety companies have mentioned they knew of the stockpile of explosive chemical compounds that have been saved on the port for over six years earlier than they ignited on Aug. 4, inflicting the devastation. It stays unclear what sparked the ignition and why nobody moved the stockpile from the waterfront overlooking a residential space and a cultural heartland of Beirut.
The households of the victims had welcomed the prosecutor’s determination, saying no senior official must be spared questioning. Nevertheless, the problem to Sawwan’s summoning is outwardly rooted in disparate interpretations over who has the authority to query ministers and heads of governments.
Sawwan initially despatched a letter and paperwork to parliament final month, asking lawmakers to research his findings. In line with Lebanon’s structure, a separate council made up of judges and politicians, arrange by parliament, is entrusted with making an attempt ministers and premiers for crimes of excessive treason, dereliction of duties, and breach of the structure — a physique that has by no means been activated by parliament.
The parliament mentioned it discovered nothing that might level to skilled wrongdoing.
Authorized specialists mentioned Sawwan then moved, based mostly on a ruling by the Courtroom of Cassation that enables him to research senior officers and refer them to common courts on prison expenses, which embody negligence resulting in demise.