Magistrates gathered at the Beirut Courthouse to protest against their social situation, in March 2022. (Illustrative photo DR)
Barely a week after having rendered an important decision concerning the country’s ruling and financial class, the investigating judge on the case, B.N., received a call.On the other end of the line, the judge’s bank account manager hinted that their bank deposit could be transferred abroad — a particularly coveted privilege amid arbitrary restrictions on depositors since the end of 2019.Naturally, the favor had a price: for B.N. to completely drop the case.“I wondered if this was a joke: it was of course unthinkable to accept such an offer,” the judge tells L’Orient-Le Jour. B.N. and other judges who agreed to be interviewed for this report requested that their full names not be published.In any case, B.N.’s ruling was appealed and overturned.This has become the story of many Lebanese judges who live in a particularly precarious...
Barely a week after having rendered an important decision concerning the country’s ruling and financial class, the investigating judge on the case, B.N., received a call.On the other end of the line, the judge’s bank account manager hinted that their bank deposit could be transferred abroad — a particularly coveted privilege amid arbitrary restrictions on depositors since the end of 2019.Naturally, the favor had a price: for B.N. to completely drop the case.“I wondered if this was a joke: it was of course unthinkable to accept such an offer,” the judge tells L’Orient-Le Jour. B.N. and other judges who agreed to be interviewed for this report requested that their full names not be published.In any case, B.N.’s ruling was appealed and overturned.This has become the story of many Lebanese judges who live in a particularly...