A year has passed since the port explosion lawsuit has been filed.. Summoning all the defendants is a guarantee for the investigation

A year has passed since the port explosion lawsuit has been filed..

Summoning all the defendants is a guarantee for the investigation

The forensic investigation into the Beirut Port explosion is at a fundamental point, and it is what marks a basic entrance to the judiciary justice. Currently, Judge Tarek Bitar, and his precedents, Judges Ghada Aoun and Amani Salameh, are a glimmer of hope for the Lebanese in the possibility for the judiciary to regain its role and status. Therefore, the path of the forensic investigator in the next stage, will be a title for the existence or nonexistence of a fair judiciary. In this case, the investigation must be fortified by preserving its independence, transparency and, therefore its justice.

With what the forensic investigator, Judge Tarek Bitar, is doing so far, and declaring his willingness to complete investigations with whomever in question; there should be a plan to summon every official who was aware of the presence of the highly dangerous materials since the entry of the nitrate shipment to Beirut port until the date of the explosion, with no exceptions, according to the data which will be in hand as the investigation progresses.

In this context, lawyer Rami Ollaik presented, today the 11^th of August 2021, a memorandum on behalf of Mr. Ziad Richa, containing the demands of the main lawsuit, and in it affirming the need to complete the summons of the remaining 28 officials, political, military, and security figures whose names were mentioned in the main lawsuit submitted by the lawyers of the UFL Alliance on August 11, 2020, simila to Richa’s lawsuit filed last February.

And after a year since his lawsuit and the start of the forensic investigation process, the alliance affirms that summoning all those concerned and everyone whose name is mentioned in the investigations, guarantees protection for the investigation and removes suspicion of politicization, so that the innocent is acquitted and the guilty is convicted. From this point Judge Bitar is requested to complete the summons of the remaining figures, in order to reveal the truth and serve justice.