The damaged silos at the port of Beirut. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today.)
The extradition request for Igor Grechushkin, identified by Beirut as the owner of Rhosus, is expected to be sent early next week to Bulgaria, where he has been under arrest since Sept. 5, Justice Minister Adel Nassar told L’Orient-le Jour on Thursday.
Preparation of the extradition request began on Monday by the Court of Cassation’s prosecutor’s office, as soon as it was informed via Interpol of Grechushkin’s arrest. He is the subject of an arrest warrant issued in 2020 by investigative judge Fadi Sawan, before he was replaced by Tarek Bitar to lead the probe into the Beirut port explosions. Tasked with forwarding the file to the Bulgarian authorities through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Justice Nassar told L’Orient-le Jour that he will contact Foreign Minister Joe Rajji — currently abroad — without delay. He also noted that on Thursday he met with Bulgarian Ambassador Venelin Lazarov, along with Advocate General Myrna Kallas, for what he described as “swift follow-up” on the case. Nassar stressed that the Bulgarian ambassador was “cooperative” and assured that he, for his part, is making “every effort” in what he considers a “priority case.”
Interrogation in Bulgaria or remotely?
For now, the next step will be to await the response of the Bulgarian judiciary. Speaking to L’Orient Today, a judicial source explained that if Bulgaria refuses to hand over Grechushkin to Lebanon, nothing rules out the possibility that Judge Bitar travels there to conduct the interrogation. Although Judge Bitar has been under a travel ban since January 2023 — imposed by former prosecutor general Ghassan Oueidate, who accused him of “rebelling against the judiciary” and of “usurping authority” — the same source noted that if the investigative judge were to request it, the current prosecutor general, Jamal Hajjar, would lift the ban. The interrogation could even be conducted from Lebanon via videoconference, the source added. Asked whether Russia, as Grechushkin is a Russian national, might in turn request his extradition, the source said the latter is not facing any judicial proceedings in that country, which rules out such a scenario.
“While Lebanese judicial authorities identified Grechushkin as the alleged owner of the ship that carried the stock of ammonium nitrate that was behind the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion, press investigations have identified him instead as the charterer of the vessel, which in fact belonged to Cypriot national Charalambos Manoli. Asked about this, attorney Akram Azouri — a member of the Beirut Bar Association’s complaints office who represents hundreds of victims’ relatives — said that “the investigations remain incomplete.”
“The arrest and possible extradition of Igor Grechushkin could help Judge Bitar complete the international dimension of the investigation — namely, clarifying the phase prior to the ammonium nitrate’s arrival at the port of Beirut,” he said. “This step will aim to identify the various actors who, through different arrangements, contributed to financing the vessel and its cargo of ammonium nitrate,” he added.
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