Sawwan Pauses Interrogation into Port Blast

The lead investigator into the Beirut port blast, Judge Fadi Sawwan, paused for ten days the investigation into the case following requests by the defendants to transfer the file to a different judge.

A judicial source said that two ex-ministers charged in the case have asked authorities to move the file to a different judge.

Last week, Sawwan, probing last summer’s port explosion in Beirut, filed charges against caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, as well as Ghazi Zoaiter and Youssef Fenianos, both former ministers of public works, accusing them of negligence that led to the death of hundreds of people.

The officials refused to appear before the judge.

Zoaiter and Khalil, both close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, submitted a memorandum to the Public Prosecution Office of Cassation, requesting that the case be transferred to another judge.

They accused Sawwan of violating the constitution by claiming against two former ministers and two deputies in Parliament.

The judicial source explained that "the request was referred to the Criminal Court of Cassation," noting that "all parties to the case, starting from the Public Prosecution Office of Cassation, to the judicial investigator and the Bar Association with its agency for the plaintiffs affected by the explosion, have ten deadlines to answer this memorandum."

As a result, the source stated that Sawwan "has suspended all investigation procedures until the Court of Cassation decides on the request to transfer the case."

Accordingly, a session scheduled for Friday to interrogate Diab was postponed.

Diab did not appear in the first session on Monday.