Plenary assembly of the Court of Cassation finally completed after new judicial appointments

After three years and four months of vacancies in most of the chambers’ presidencies, the plenary assembly of the Court of Cassation is now complete with its 10 members. 

The appointments of the 10 chamber presidents by the Higher Judicial Council (HJC) on April 15 were confirmed on Tuesday in a cabinet decree co-signed by Justice Minister Adel Nassar, Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun.

In March 2022, the HJC had prepared and proposed names for the presidencies of the various chambers, but then-Finance Minister Youssef Khalil blocked them, after refusing to co-sign the following month. Since then, only two out of 10 positions were not filled on an interim basis. This prevented the issuance of rulings on legal actions in highly sensitive cases, including the Aug. 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion or the legal proceedings against the former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.

Read more

French delegation receives information from Lebanese judiciary concerning Beirut Port investigation

Here is the breakdown of the 10 chambers and the names of their presidents:

1st Chamber: Gulnar Samaha. She previously held the position of first president of the Bekaa Court of Appeal.

2nd Chamber: Naji Eid. In October 2021, while serving as interim president of the first chamber of the Court of Cassation, he rejected a legal action against Judge Bitar, submitted by MPs Ghazi Zeaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil, both of whom were being prosecuted by the judge. He was also president of the 16th chamber of the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal.

3rd Chamber: Souheir Harakeh. She remains in her position as president of the 3rd chamber.

4th Chamber: Randa Harrouk. She previously served as president of the 15th chamber of the Jdeideh Court of Appeal.

5th Chamber: Jeanette Hanna. In October 2021, she served as interim president of the 5th chamber of the Court of Cassation, which declared itself not competent to rule on a legal action against Judge Bitar, submitted by Zeaiter and Khalil. She has now been given tenure.

6th Chamber: Fadi Sawan. He was in charge of the investigation into the Beirut port explosion and was removed from the case in February 2021 by a chamber of the Court of Cassation, which ruled on a request for legitimate suspicion filed by Zeaiter and Khalil. He was an investigative judge at the military court and will remain in this position until the general judicial appointments, which are expected to be made through a decree no later than July.

7th Chamber: Oussama Mneimneh. He was the president of the 5th chamber of the North Lebanon Court of Appeal.

8th Chamber: Nada Dakroub. She is also the president of the Institute of Judicial Studies, where judges are trained.

9th Chamber: Habib Rizkallah. He was the First President of the Beirut Court of Appeal.

10th Chamber: Afif Hakim. He was the president of the 4th Chamber of the Court of Cassation.

L’Orient-Le Jour learned that the presidents and assessors of the ten chambers of the Court of Cassation are expected to elect next week two members of the HJC, who should be presidents at the Court of Cassation. The vote is likely to result in the election of a Maronite judge and a Shiite female judge, Nada Dakroub, as Souheir Harakeh is already a HJC member.

Among the Maronites, the battle will be between judges Naji Eid and Habib Rizkallah. Fadi Sawan could have been one of the candidates, but it is highly unlikely, given that his wife, Mona Saleh, had already been appointed to the HJC in April. Once the Maronite and Shiite judges are elected, the number of HJC members will be increased to nine, as seven members were appointed last month. Additionally, all the presidents of the chambers of the Court of Cassation were appointed on an interim basis to other positions, awaiting the general appointments planned for July.

Presidents of the Court of Appeal

Furthermore, six first presidents of the Courts of Appeal for the six governorates have been appointed under the same cabinet decree: Georges Harb was appointed in Beirut, succeeding Habib Rizkallah. Myrna Baida (Mount Lebanon) succeeded Elie Helou (South Mount Lebanon), and Randa Harrouk (North Mount Lebanon), Nidal Chamseddine in North Lebanon, succeeded Sania Sabeh, and Ghassan Mouhti in South Lebanon replaced Reine Matar. Ghada Abou Karroum in the Bekaa succeeded Gulnar Samaha, while Mounif Barakat in Nabatieh succeeded Nidal Shamseddine. 

All the predecessors of the new first presidents of the Court of Appeal were holding their positions on an interim basis. The 10th member of the HJC will be appointed by cabinet decree, upon the proposal of Minister Nassar, from among these new first presidents and among the presidents of the Courts of Appeal, who will soon be appointed as part of the judicial reshuffle.

This article was originally published in French in L’Orient-Le Jour. It was translated by Joelle El-Khoury.