A worker sitting amid the rubble at the port of Beirut, June 27, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/OLJ archives)
BEIRUT — The owner of the vessel linked to the explosion at the Port of Beirut in 2020 was arrested on Sept. 5 at Sofia Airport, the spokesperson for the capital's court announced on Tuesday.
Igor Grechushkin, a 48-year-old Russian-Cypriot citizen, is identified by Lebanese authorities as the owner of the Rhosus, the ship that carried the ammonium nitrate unloaded at the Port of Beirut where it later exploded.
After his arrest, Grechushkin appeared before the Sofia court on Sept. 7, and was "detained for a maximum period of 40 days," the spokesperson said. According to Bulgarian law, authorities requesting extradition have 40 days to send the necessary documents to justify the transfer of the wanted person.
Grechushkin was apprehended upon arrival from Paphos (Cyprus), based on an Interpol red notice, confirmed another Bulgarian judicial source to AFP on condition of anonymity. An Interpol red notice is "a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition" or "legal action."
The double explosion at the Port of Beirut killed at least 235 people, injured thousands more — some of whom still bear the scars — and destroyed entire neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital.
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The investigation in Lebanon, led by the investigating judge at the Court of Justice, Tarek Bitar, was reopened last January after two years of political and judicial obstacles. Since taking over the case, the magistrate has been the target of numerous appeals and requests for recusal from former ministers and judicial or military officials who have been charged with negligence or professional misconduct, especially regarding the unloading and yearslong storage of ammonium nitrate that caused the blast.
