The Cybercrime Bureau in Lebanon has summoned Christiane Gemayel, editor of the Lebanese news site Lebtalk, to a hearing on Monday, according to information published Thursday by the site and confirmed by L'OLJ.

This summons follows at least one complaint filed by lawyers from the association Amoualouna Lana ("Our Money is Ours" in Arabic), a group advocating for depositors' rights that emerged since the socio-economic crisis began in 2019, during which Lebanese banks restricted many clients' access to their deposits.

Firas Tannous, a spokesperson for the association, stated that the procedure against Christiane Gemayel specifically concerns an article published on June 7, in which the editor accused several lawyers of becoming "famous" by exploiting the distress of depositors seeking justice in Lebanese courts. She also accused them of demanding commissions "sometimes up to 30% of the funds depositors are trying to recover," among other allegations. In a comment cited by Lebtalk, Christiane Gemayel did not retract these accusations but expressed "trust in the impartiality of the judges."

Other journalists have also faced similar legal actions initiated by lawyers from the association.

The Editors Syndicate president, Joseph Kossaifi, commented on the case in a statement on Friday.

“The order's decision is very clear on this matter, we refuse to allow journalists who are the subject of a complaint to appear before the cybercrime bureau. The only body empowered to deal with such cases is the print court, in accordance with articles 28 and 29 of the law,” he said.