Mashnouq, Khalil, Zoaiter File New Lawsuits against Bitar

MP and Ex-minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq’s lawyer Naoum Farah filed on Friday morning a lawsuit before the Criminal Court of Cassation in Beirut to dismiss lead investigator into Beirut’s port blast, Judge Tarek Bitar, from the probe due to so-called "legitimate suspicion."

The Court of Appeals had turned down Monday requests to replace Bitar following a week-long suspension after al-Mashnouq, suspected of negligence leading to the tragedy, filed a lawsuit to replace the judge.

Former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter, who are both incumbent MPs, meanwhile filed a lawsuit Friday before the Civil Court of Cassation, demanding Bitar’s removal for “violating constitutional norms and bypassing the powers of parliament and the Higher Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.”