The middle grain silos at the Port of Beirut collapsed following the damage caused by the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
A Higher Judicial Council (HJC) meeting was canceled Tuesday due to a lack of quorum.
After Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator in the Beirut blast probe, indefinitely postponed hearings originally scheduled to start on Feb. 6, caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury called on the HJC to meet Tuesday, presumably to vote to appoint an alternative judge.
Tuesday's meeting was canceled amidst tension between HJC president Souheil Abboud and other council members seeking to remove Bitar.
The Council is legally comprised of 10 members, but there are currently three vacancies. A quorum of six members is needed to convene meetings, but only four were present at Tuesday's meeting.
In order to remove Bitar, the Council must vote — using a simple majority among present members — in favor of his dismissal. Khoury would then propose the name of a replacement judge to assume responsibility for the investigation, and that name would again go to a vote at the HJC.
While the caretaker justice minister can call for a meeting of the Council, he does not have the right to attend the meeting.
Four of the in-office council members are vocally in favor of removing Bitar. These members are affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement and the Amal Movement, the same parties affiliated with some of the officials implicated in Bitar's investigation.