Former Minister Youssef Fenianos has filed a lawsuit against judicial investigator Judge Tarek Bitar to have him dismissed from the Beirut Port Explosion investigation.
Citing “legitimate suspicion” regarding Judge Bitar’s impartiality, Fenianos announced that he had lodged the case to the Court of Cassation on Wednesday.
The move comes to ensure “the smooth conduct of the investigation and to reach the desired truth,” the former official, who has been charged with negligence in the Beirut Blast case, said in a statement.
Being charged over the August 4th Explosion and having an arrest warrant issued against himself by Judge Bitar was “illicit and unjust,” Fenianos said.
“The disaster of the port explosion came and there are those who want to blame me as a person, from my position as a former minister of public works and transport, for the sins of the entire matter in all its dimensions.”
“I regret to say that the path taken by Judge Bitar will not lead to the truth,” he concluded.
Fenianos, who doesn’t currently hold an office, was charged with negligence last year alongside former Premier Hassan Diab, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, and MP Ghazi Zaiter.
Recent reports indicated that former PM Diab was working with several officials to file a lawsuit against Judge Bitar.
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