Nevertheless,
Five years after explosion port:
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun promised. on Monday, August 4, that justice would be done, five years five years after explosion port after the gigantic explosion in the port of Beirut on which the investigation has still not succeeded. On August 4. 2020, one of the largest non -nuclear explosions in history devastated entire districts of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and 6,500 injured. The explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate were stored as precaution used as fertilizer. despite repeated warnings to the highest officials.
Joseph Aoun said on Monday that the Lebanese state was “Committed to revealing the whole truth. five years after explosion port regardless of the obstacles or the high positions involved”in a country where the culture of impunity is very anchored. “The law applies to everyone, without exception”said the Lebanese president in a statement. “We work by all the means available to ensure that surveys are carried out with transparency and integrity”he assured. Additionally, “The blood of your loved ones will not be shed in vain”he added by addressing the families of the. victims.
On Monday was declared the day of national mourning. and gatherings claiming justice must converge in the afternoon towards the port, where the silhouettes of the broken wheat silos still rise between the cranes and the containers.
A first judge responsible in 2020 of the investigation had to throw in the towel after charging the former Prime Minister. Hassan Diab, and three former ministers. Independent judge Tarek Bitar had resumed the investigation. which he five years after explosion port had to interrupt in January 2023, coming up against the hostility of a large part of the political class, in particular Hezbollah, before being prosecuted for insubordination by the Attorney General, a first in the history of Lebanon.
Relatives of victims. many international NGOs have claimed the training of an international commission of inquiry, but have come up against an official refusal of Lebanon.
Five years after explosion port
A “national question”
After more than two years of deadlock. the judge had resumed his investigations and initiated, at the beginning five years after explosion port of the year, prosecution against ten new people. The magistrate has now completed his interrogations. expects in particular an answer to requests for information sent in July to several Arab and European countries, a judicial official told the France-Presse (AFP), under the cover of anonymity. The file once finalized must be transmitted to the prosecution for opinion before possible charges, he added.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. former judge at the International Court of Justice, said on Sunday that knowing the truth and establishing responsibilities was “A national question”denouncing decades of official impunity.
The investigating judge resumed his investigation after the entry into office of President Aoun. his Prime Minister, who promised to preserve the independence of justice and to prevent any interference, after a change in the balance of the powers which followed the war between Israel and Hezbollah, supported by Iran.
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The investigation of Judge Bitar had been paralyzed after the Shiite movement, a long time a dominant force in Lebanese politics but out of the weakened of the Israeli offensive carried out in the fall, had asked for his withdrawal by accusing him of bias.
Mariana Fodoulian. of the Association of Families of the Victims, said that, “For five years, officials tried five years after explosion port to escape their responsibilities, always thinking that they are above the laws”. “We ask nothing more than the truthshe told AFP. We will not stop until we have obtained global justice ”.
On Sunday. the Minister of Culture, Ghassan Salamé, said that the partially collapsed wheat silos of the port would be included in a list of historic buildings. The families of the victims claim their preservation as a memorial of the disaster.
five years after explosion port
Five years after explosion port
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