Bitar charges army's ex-chief of staff and three retired officers
Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar on Wednesday interrogated and charged the Lebanese Army’s former chief of staff Walid Salman and retired army brigadier generals George Moussa, Munir Abou Zeid and Manuel Kirjian, the National News Agency said.
"The interrogation of the aforementioned officers follows the substantive pleading prepared by Attorney General Judge Mohammed Saab, in which he pressed charges against them and requested their interrogation over suspicions regarding their knowledge of the presence of ammonium nitrate at the Beirut port," NNA added.
The massive explosion on August 4, 2020 killed more than 220 people, injured more than 6,500 and laid waste to swathes of the capital.
Lebanese authorities have said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.
Nobody has been punished for the blast despite public anger and families of the blast victims demanding justice in a country long plagued by official impunity.
Current and former politicians, security and military officials, and civil servants were previously charged by Bitar.
The case had been bogged down by political and legal wrangling since 2023, after Hezbollah led a campaign demanding Bitar's removal and dozens of lawsuits also sought to remove him from the case.
However, Bitar resumed his investigations last year as Lebanon's balance of power shifted.
President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took office following a 2023-2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which weakened the Lebanese armed group.
Since then, several legal impediments to Bitar's work have also been removed, including the lifting of a travel ban against him.
Source: Naharnet
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