The President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Souhail Abboud, postponed the session that was scheduled for last Monday to discuss the appointment of an assistant judge for the investigative judge in the case of Judge Tarek Bitar, to Tuesday, in order to secure consensus among council members on this step. However, the council also failed in its new session to reach an agreement, as the meeting dedicated to deciding on the appointment of Judge Sameranda Nassar as an assistant to Judge Tarek Bitar ended without any decision or statement being issued.
According to sources familiar with the case, the council is divided, and its members are not only disagreeing on the name of the assistant judge proposed by the Minister of Justice in the caretaker government, Henry Khoury, who is close to the ruling team and the Free Patriotic Movement, but there is also a disagreement on the duties of this assistant judge. Up until now, the fate of the "proposal," backed by the Minister of Justice as mentioned earlier, is unknown, as the obstacles in front of it appear significant, and it is likely that the balance is leaning towards abandoning it. While the President of the Supreme Judicial Council was willing to proceed with the proposal for purely humanitarian reasons related to the health conditions of those detained in the Beirut port explosion case, the rift within the "council" does not seem to be a hurdle that Judge Abboud thought could be easily overcome.
Furthermore, the sources indicate that there is no guarantee that the assistant judge will be able to fulfill the task for which they were appointed. What guarantees, for example, that they will not face challenges such as requests to remove them, similar to what occurred with Bitar? There is nothing to ensure that. To emphasize this point, William Noun, speaking on behalf of the families of the Beirut port explosion victims after their meeting last week with Minister Khoury and Judge Abboud, stated: "Our demand is clear, which is to proceed with the investigation. As for the current proposal regarding the assistant judge, if appointed, a request will be submitted by a family member to remove them, and thus we return to the same problem, namely the partial formations of the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation."
In addition to the significant popular, political, and even spiritual rejection of the proposed measure, there have also been negative responses to the proposal in international and global circles, which the official Lebanese side was informed of in recent hours. In this context, the visit of the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, to Minister Khoury yesterday plays a role. The two sides conducted a general discussion regarding the overall situation in Lebanon and the region before Wronecka inquired of Khoury about the matter of appointing an assistant judge in the Beirut port explosion case.
Based on the above, sources suggest that the best solution to restart the investigations into the port incident and ensure that all rightful parties, whether detainees or victims, receive their due justice is through completing the appointments in the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation, so it can rule on the cases against Bitar, allowing him to continue his work or not. If the decree for the formations is not signed, it is possible to form the General Assembly of the Court of Cassation from among the original and delegated heads of departments. So, will the proper legal avenues in the "port" be pursued, or will the political authority continue to circumvent the issue, keeping the file dormant and preventing accountability, as has been the case for nearly nine months?
