Higher Judicial Council Convenes on Judge Ghada Aoun's 'Raids'
The Higher Judicial Council convened on Monday to discuss its position on the latest actions of Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun, with insistence on taking disciplinary measures against her, media reports said.
This coincided with a sit-in staged by a number demonstrators outside the Justice Palace in support of Lebanon's State Prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat, while another group of demonstrators stood in support of the controversial judge Aoun.
Oweidat had earlier dismissed Aoun from an investigation into possible currency export violations which drew the ire of FPM supporters. But Aoun defied Oweidat and carried out two raids on Michel Mecattaf money exchange houses in northern Lebanon over the weekend accompanied by security forces.
Aoun was also accompanied by supporters and activists of the Free Patriotic Movement during the first raid on offices of Michel Mecattaf, a top foreign currency exporter on Friday.
According to Mecattaf, they tried to enter the office by force.
In response, caretaker Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm held an emergency meeting on Saturday in the presence of Oweidat, head of the High Judicial Council Judge Suhail Abboud and Judicial Inspection Authority head Judge Borkan Saad.
Najem voiced anger at the incident, saying what happened indicates the “failure of the state’s institutions.”
Judge Aoun has overstepped her position’s limits previously. There are several complaints against her before the Judicial Inspection Authority.
Source: Naharnet
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