The Supreme Judicial Council appointed Judge Tarek Bitar as the investigating judge in the Beirut Port explosion case, succeeding Judge Fadi Sawan.
The National News Agency reported a short while ago that the Supreme Judicial Council, chaired by Judge Suhail Abboud, approved the proposal of Minister of Justice Marie-Claude Najm to appoint Judge Tarek Bitar, President of the Beirut Criminal Court, as the investigating judge in the Beirut Port explosion case, replacing Judge Fadi Sawan. The media office of the Minister of Justice in the caretaker government, Marie-Claude Najm, issued a statement confirming that on Thursday afternoon, February 18, 2021, the Ministry of Justice received the decision issued by the Criminal Cassation Court - chamber six under number 5/2021 dated 18/2/2021, which ruled to transfer the case related to the Beirut Port explosion from the hands of investigating judge Fadi Sawan and to relieve him from it.
It was added that the Minister of Justice would take the necessary legal measures in accordance with Article 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Criminal Cassation Court, chaired by Judge Jamal Al-Hijjar, decided to transfer the investigation file of the Beirut Port explosion from Judge Sawan to another judge, despite one member of the panel opposing this decision. Sawan had indicted the caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers: former Minister of Finance Ali Hasan Khalil and former Ministers of Public Works Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Finyanous on December 10. However, none of them appeared before him in the sessions he scheduled for their questioning as "defendants." Both Zeaiter and Khalil, who are close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, subsequently filed a memorandum with the Cassation Public Prosecutor asking for the case to be transferred to another judge, accusing Sawan of violating the constitution by indicting two former ministers and two parliament members, while these individuals enjoy constitutional immunity and prosecution should go through the Parliament, according to opponents of the indictment decision. Sawan later suspended the investigations for two months before resuming them last week after the Cassation Court returned the file to him pending a decision on the request from the two ministers.
