Lebanese public prosecutor Ghada Aoun walks as she leaves the Justice Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 4, 2023. (Credit; Mohamed Azakir/REUTERS)
BEIRUT — The disciplinary council of judges on Thursday dismissed the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Mount Lebanon Ghada Aoun, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, a senior judicial source did not deny the veracity of this information.
The reasons for this decision were not disclosed to the press, but Judge Aoun was the subject of complaints to the Judicial Inspection.
Ghada Aoun appealed the decision taken against her via her lawyer, according to the NNA.
The submission of this appeal by Judge Aoun will have the effect of suspending the dismissal of the prosecutor until a final decision by the High Disciplinary Council of Magistrates is made.
She will therefore be able to resume her work in the meantime, explains the NNA.
Shortly after the announcement of her dismissal, Aoun spoke to a crowd of supporters gathered in front of the Beirut Justice Palace. Visibly moved, the magistrate said she had done nothing wrong.
"I say it out loud, these prosecutions are vindictive," she said. "The cases I have investigated have been relaunched internationally. The issue of adulterated fuel [involving the Rahme brothers] has been confirmed by the United States. Riad Salameh is currently being prosecuted [in several European countries]."
"Look at the state of the country, people are in a situation of absolute misery, they can not even get treatment and here they are trying to prosecute a judge who has done her duty in good conscience," she added. "I am not afraid of anyone. Even if they want to kill me, I have no problem."
On Thursday, depositors' rights associations staged a sit-in in front of Beirut Justice Palace, where a European judicial delegation probing alleged corruption is questioning Raja Salameh, the brother of Banque du Liban (BDL) governor Riad Salameh.
The associations "Our Money is Ours" and "Caliber" called on the delegation to stand in solidarity with Judge Ghada Aoun.
The senior judicial source also told L'Orient-Le Jour that the Judicial Inspectorate had probably referred her case to the disciplinary council of magistrates, which took the decision to dismiss Aoun on Thursday.
This council is chaired by Judge Jamal Hajjar and consists of members Mirna Bayda and Ayman Oueidate.
Aoun was first referred to the Judicial Inspection in April 2021, after her mediated raids on the headquarters of the Mecattaf company in Aoukar, Metn, in front of a crowd of supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement.
Aoun had also refused to comply with a decision by the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidat to dismiss her from cases related to financial crimes.
The magistrate, who in recent years has prosecuted several officials, including Banque du Liban governor Riad Salameh, is often at the center of judicial turmoil and is known for her closeness to former president Michel Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement party.
The magistrate appeared on July 7, 2022 before Jamal Hajjar, president of the sixth criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation.
She had testified about what she was accused of, namely "failure to comply with the duty of reserve and practice of pressure on the judges of the court of appeal in charge of examining the complaint against her."