Debris from the Beirut port, June 27, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Tarek Bitar, the investigating judge handling the Beirut port blast case, received authorization to travel to Bulgaria to question the owner of the Rhosus, the ship that carried the ammonium nitrate that caused the Aug. 4, 2020, disaster.
According to information confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour by a judicial source, preparations are moving forward for a trip to Sofia after Prosecutor General Jamal Hajjar on Thursday lifted the travel ban imposed on Bitar in January 2023 by former Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidate.
Oueidate had launched proceedings against Bitar for “rebellion against the judiciary” and “usurpation of power.”
Earlier Thursday, Bulgarian authorities accepted Bitar’s request to question in Bulgaria the Rhosus’ owner, Igor Grechushkin, a Russian Cypriot national. Arrested on Sept. 5 at Sofia Airport based on an Interpol red notice, Grechushkin can now be questioned for the first time as part of the investigation, following a request Bitar submitted in October, judicial sources told L’Orient-Le Jour.
The date of the hearing is not yet known. A Bulgarian magistrate will conduct the session, relaying Bitar’s questions to Grechushkin. After the interrogation, Bitar will not be able to arrest him or take any measures against him.
A Sofia court on Wednesday had rejected Lebanon’s request to extradite him, citing that the Lebanese judiciary did not provide sufficient assurances that the death penalty would not be carried out.
This information, initially reported by AFP, was confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour by a source close to the Cassation’s Prosecution Office, who noted that this office had not yet been officially notified of the ruling at the time of publication.
Commenting on the reason behind the refusal, Grechushkin’s lawyer Ekaterina Dimitrova told AFP, was that Lebanon did not provide “sufficient evidence to ensure that the death penalty will not be imposed on him or, if imposed, will not be carried out.”
The decision is not final and can be appealed within seven days before the Sofia Court of Appeal. He will be released if, within a week, the prosecution does not appeal the judicial decision, the lawyer added.
A Lebanese judge expects the Bulgarian prosecution to appeal the refusal, especially since it had itself requested that the Sofia court extradite Grechushkin to Lebanon.
Arrested at Sofia airport on Sept. 5 based on an Interpol red notice, Grechushkin is accused by Lebanese judicial authorities of “bringing explosives into Lebanon, a terrorist act that caused the deaths of many people and the disabling of machinery with the aim of sinking a ship,” according to the Bulgarian prosecution.
Bitar’s recourse and Grechushkin’s extradition are two distinct measures, a judicial source noted: extradition allows the Lebanese judiciary to arrest and question Grechushkin directly, unlike the hearing in Bulgaria.
While the Sofia court had the authority to release him 40 days after his arrest (on Oct. 15), it did not do so, instead requesting additional guarantees from Lebanon, including assurances that the death penalty would neither be imposed nor carried out if he were convicted.
During a visit to Sofia on Nov. 10, which coincided with a Bulgarian court’s decision to postpone a hearing on Grechushkin’s extradition request, President Joseph Aoun praised the “positive cooperation of the Bulgarian authorities,” affirming his determination to “uncover all the circumstances” linked to the explosion and establish the truth.
Aoun also emphasized to his Bulgarian counterpart “the importance of judicial and criminal cooperation” between the two countries.
What about Oueidate’s judicial action against Bitar?
L’Orient-Le jour learned that Judge Habib Rizkallah, tasked with investigating the case of abuse-of-power filed against Tarek Bitar in January 2023 by Oueidate, received the opinion of the Court of Cassation on the scope of this complaint on Monday.
Oueidate had initiated proceedings against Bitar in response to his decision on Jan. 23, 2023, to resume the investigation into the port explosion after a suspension of roughly 13 months caused by multiple requests to have him removed from the case.
Bitar relied on case law establishing that an investigating judge at the Court of Justice cannot be removed through judicial appeals.
The Court of Cassation’s opinion, the content of which has not been disclosed as it was submitted under seal, is not binding on Judge Rizkallah. According to a judicial source, he is expected to issue a decision within roughly two weeks, determining whether or not Bitar has committed abuse of power.
