The Tripoli Bar Association has granted permission for the prosecution of former Lebanese Public Works and Transport Minister Youssef Fenianos, who was previously charged in connection to the August 4 Beirut explosion.
Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead judicial investigator in the Beirut explosion case, had requested earlier this month that the Bar Associations of Beirut and Tripoli lift the immunity of Fenianos and MPs Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter.
The Beirut Bar Association granted its permission in regards to Zaiter and Khalil on Wednesday, which left them with the immunity they only favor from as MPs.
Fenianos, on the other hand, does not currently hold any office, which means he has no remaining immunities that would prevent him from being prosecuted.
The Tripoli Bar Association said that its decision takes into consideration that Fenianos was charged for an act that is unrelated to his profession as a lawyer, especially considering that his file as a lawyer was suspended at the time of the act attributed to him due to his assumption of a ministerial position.
