Top Lebanese Politicians Shun Beirut Blast Court Hearing, Citing Constitution - Attorney

Top Lebanese Politicians Shun Beirut Blast Court Hearing, Citing Constitution - Attorney

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the three former cabinet ministers summoned by the court on charges of criminal negligence refused to attend the hearings citing their constitutional rights, Attorney Firas Kleib, a member of the Prosecution bureau of the Beirut Bar Association, told Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th December, 2020) Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the three former cabinet ministers summoned by the court on charges of criminal negligence refused to attend the hearings citing their constitutional rights, Attorney Firas Kleib, a member of the Prosecution bureau of the Beirut Bar Association, told Sputnik.

"They have refused to attend the hearing (basing on the article 70 (and following) of the Lebanese Constitution) and the Instruction Judge has declared that he would use all his authority to ensure the progress of the instruction," Kleib said.

Decried as "diabolical" by the caretaker prime minister and dismissed as selective and politically-motivated by the accused former ministers, the charges invoked against the politicians in question have sparked outrage among the country's religious and political leadership, with Lebanon's topmost Sunni religious authority condemning the accusations as an attack against the office of the Prime Minister.

"This matter is lifting tension, to a point - as we mentioned - the political/sectarian parties and the religious authorities began pulling the sectarian cards, however the judiciary as I mentioned is facing one of his biggest challenges ever," Kleib added.

Judge Fadi Sawan was tasked with investigating the deadly August 4 Beirut port blast. He made headlines earlier in December after charging the Mediterranean nation's acting prime minister, two former ministers of public works Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Fenianos, and former minister of finance Ali Hassan Khalil with criminal negligence.