Ex-Minister Ghazi Zeaiter didn’t attend on Friday his questioning regarding the Beirut Port Explosion. His lawyer Mohammad Zeaiter attended the questioning on his behalf and raised a formal appeal.
As a result, Judge Tarek Bitar delayed the questioning to November 9th. That appeal will be transferred to the Discriminatory Public Prosecution court.
Back in July, the minister expressed his willingness to testify in court, however, he has been challenging Judge Bitar legally since his summoning.
The court will provide its opinion regarding the appeals, then Judge Bitar will give the final decision.
Ex-Minister Ghazi Zeaiter was summoned for questioning regarding the Beirut Blast in September, as well as other ministers.
Zeaiter was the Minster of Public Works when the Ammonium Nitrate shipments arrived in the port six years ago.
Since then, the ministers have avoided the questioning by filing lawsuits against the judge, as well as appeals. So far, none of them has testified in court.
Another questioning that got postponed is Nohad al-Mashnouk’s. The ex-minister filed a lawsuit against the state, which puts the questioning at a halt until it’s resolved.
Ex-Prime Minister Hassan Diab also filed a lawsuit against the state, forcing the judge to suspend the prosecution against him.
As a result, the aforementioned questionings are all obstructing the investigations, and preventing Judge Bitar from doing his work.
Since September 22nd to date, there have been 14 legal challenges against him, according to Journalist Nader Fawz.
The court has rejected these lawsuits and appeals, but the judge’s investigations continued to be interrupted due to the aforementioned challenges.
The previous judge assigned to investigate the Beirut Port Explosion, Fadi Sawan, was removed from the case for similar reasons, only six months after he was assigned.
These lawsuits, appeals, and warrants are hindering the investigations. A year and 2 months after the explosion killed over 234 people, injured thousands, displaced 300,000 people, and destroyed about half the Lebanese capital, no one has been held accountable yet.