Lebanon’s prosecutor investigating the deadly blast that rocked Beirut on August 4 has suspended the probe after two ministers he charged requested he be removed, judicial sources said Thursday.
The development, reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency, NNA, comes after a stormy week that cast doubt on the fate of the investigation into the blast that killed over 200 people.
Fadi Sawan on December 10 issued charges against caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers over the explosion that also destroyed the Lebanese capital’s port and devastated several districts.
The four were charged with "negligence and causing death to hundreds and injuries to thousands more" in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
Among them are former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and ex-public works minister Ghazi Zoaiter, who have since accused Sawan of violating the constitution.
They said Wednesday they had not been officially informed of the questioning session, which protocol demanded.
NNA reported that Sawan set a new date of Jan. 4 for the politicians to be questioned after their no-show on Wednesday. It said he heard testimony from a former top army officer, who was acting as a witness.
Lebanon's top Cassation Court is now expected to rule on the request of the former ministers for Sawan to be removed from his post.
"Until then, all investigation proceedings are suspended," a senior court judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Diab has also refused to appear in front of the judge on similar grounds.
Lebanon's politicians have rallied around the argument that the indictment of a minister should be submitted to a vote in parliament.
Diab, who resigned in the wake of the explosion, already testified before Sawan in September.
The huge stock of ammonium nitrate that ignited at Beirut port had been stored there for years when Diab took office almost exactly a year ago.
Most of Lebanon's political leadership and security agencies have said they knew of the stockpile. It remains unclear what sparked the ignition and why no one moved the stockpile from the waterfront overlooking a residential area and a cultural heartland of Beirut.
The fact that little light has been shed on the circumstances that led to Lebanon's worst peacetime disaster nearly four months after the blast has caused outrage, mainly among families of victims.
Politicians say Sawan has been selective and overstepped his powers, while the head of the Beirut Bar Association and others say the judge has shown courage.
