Piles of debris at the Beirut Port, devastated by the double explosion on Aug. 4, 2020. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The hearing scheduled for Tuesday by investigating judge Habib Rizkallah, appointed ad hoc to question investigative judge at the Court of Justice Tarek Bitar, has been postponed to Thursday. Bitar is in charge of leading the investigation into the deadly Beirut Port explosion of Aug. 4, 2020.
His hearing was meant to be held as part of a complaint filed against Bitar in January 2023 by former Court of Cassations prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat for "usurpation of authority and rebellion against the judiciary."
Last September, the indictment chamber — also appointed as the second-level court for this case — asked the Cassations prosecutor's office, now headed by Jamal Hajjar, to provide Judge Rizkallah with missing documents. Once the request had been granted, on Oct. 18, Rizkallah set Nov. 4 as the date for Bitar's hearing.
However, the Cassations prosecutor's office had not been notified of the summons, meaning Tuesday's hearing could not proceed. This should normally be handled by the registry office of the instruction bureau — in this case, headed by Rizkallah — according to a legal expert who spoke with L'Orient-Le Jour. Not knowing that the notification had not been made, Bitar appeared in court, as planned, for his questioning.
Also present were Samer al-Hajj and Rima Sleiman, respective attorneys for Ali Hassan Khalil, MP and former minister of the Amal Movement, and former customs director Badri Daher. Both officials have been implicated by Bitar in the Beirut Port explosion and both had filed complaints against him, similar to that of Oueidat. Their complaints are being handled simultaneously in the same proceedings.
The parties left the premises thirteen minutes after the scheduled session time of 10 a.m.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
