The port of Beirut ravaged after the deadly explosions of August 4, 2020. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Three individuals prosecuted in the investigation into the Aug. 4 Beirut port blast have filed, via their lawyer Fadi Haddad, a complaint at the sixth chamber of the Court of Cassation against the lead investigator in the case, Judge Tarek Bitar, a judicial source confirmed to L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• Numerous demands for Bitar’s removal from the case have been filed, halting the investigation until rulings can be issued on them. The current complaint was filed by Salim Georges Chebli, the contractor who carried out the repair works in warehouse 12, where the tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded on Aug. 4, 2020, were stored, and two employees in the Chebli company, Khodr Ali al-Ahmad and Ahmad Omar al-Rajab.
• On March 23, two port officials detained as part of the investigation into the blast filed a complaint against Bitar, asking that the executive measures of arrest and detention be moved to another judge.
• On Tuesday, families of some of the more than 200 people killed by the blast filed a complaint against MPs and former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter, against whom Bitar has issued arrest warrants, in order to stop what they say is obstruction of the probe. Khalil and Zeaiter have filed many lawsuits seeking the removal of Bitar, who they accuse of politicizing the investigation, and other judges who have refrained from using their authority to remove Bitar.
• More than a year and a half after the tragedy, two new victims were added last Saturday to its death toll: Rita Antoun Hardini and Julia Audi.