Ghada Aoun, Attorney General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, in front of the Beirut Palace of Justice, March 22, 2024. (Credit: Raphaël Abdelnour)
Summoned for a hearing before the Higher Disciplinary Council, Ghada Aoun, Attorney General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, lodged an appeal on Friday against the President of the Higher Council of the Judiciary (CSM), Souheil Abboud.
Although the hearings conducted by these bodies are subject to the seal of secrecy, the grounds for the proceedings against the prosecutor are partly known: High-profile searches at the headquarters of the Mecattaf cash courier company, carried out in front of numerous supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), to which she is close; refusal to comply with a decision taken in June 2021 by the former public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Ghassan Oueidat, to relinquish jurisdiction over financial crime cases; violation of the right of reserve; refusal to respond to summonses from the Cassation Public Prosecutor's Office.
Hearing postponed to April 15
The magistrate, who had been dismissed from the judiciary in May 2023 by the Disciplinary Board for Magistrates, arrived shortly before 10 a.m. She left half an hour later. The judge's hearing has been postponed until April 15.
Prior to her arrival, around thirty people, including members of the Calibre association – which describes itself as "a collective for free justice" – and the "Our money is for us" collective, had gathered in the rain outside the Beirut courthouse to show their support for her. "Ghada Aoun, you're the judge, we can't judge you," one protester shouted at the magistrate. "We're all with you because you're the only one who supports us in this country," chanted another.
The announcement of Judge Aoun's summons sparked strong protests in the circles of lawyers who support her action against the banks, launched shortly after the start of Lebanon's economic crisis in 2019. The magistrate had prosecuted former Central Bank head Riad Salameh and arrested his brother Raja in March 2022, as well as attacking several Lebanese banks, banning their CEOs from traveling and disposing of their assets.
The procedure
A high-ranking judicial source told L'Orient-Le Jour that the appeal for dismissal on grounds of legitimate suspicion must normally be lodged with the Court of Appeal. "As the first president of the Cassation Court is the highest-ranking member of the judiciary, such an appeal concerning him must be presented to the plenary assembly of this court, which is legally composed of 10 members," he points out. She added: "However, this body has lost its quorum due to the retirement of six of its members ... It will therefore be unable to sit to rule on the dismissal requested" by the magistrate.
According to the same source, Judge Abboud was notified of the appeal without delay. When an appeal for removal from office is lodged, the magistrate in question must lift his hold on the case as soon as he is notified. However, since in this case the plenary assembly has jurisdiction, the rule is that the magistrate's remit to this court is removed when the appeal is registered with the body's clerk's office.
According to information obtained by L'Orient-Le Jour, Aoun intends to register her complaint with the clerk's office shortly. Among the grounds for the appeal on the grounds of legitimate suspicion is the fact that the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, chaired by Abboud, had lodged a complaint against the magistrate with the Judicial Inspectorate. However, one cannot be judge and party to a lawsuit, asserts the source. According to the same source, another reason was that the CSM had raised the possibility of removing Ghada Aoun from office on the basis of Article 95 of the Judicial Organization Act, which allows the CSM to declare a judge incompetent after hearing him or her, but without a trial and without the right of appeal.
The question is whether the Higher Disciplinary Council could continue to examine the question of Aoun's removal from office with Abboud's request for dismissal. According to the above-mentioned source, another CSM member, Elias Richa, would join the High Disciplinary Council to ensure a quorum. As for the chairmanship of the High Disciplinary Council, it is the vice-chairman of the CSM, in this case, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Jamal Hajjar, who could assume it. Judge Hajjar presided over the Disciplinary Board (1st degree) that dismissed Aoun last May.
A source close to Judge Aoun commented that she was using the same weapons used by those who obstruct justice because they don't want the investigations into the banks and the double explosion at the port to be carried out.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.