The lead Beirut blast investigator Monday scheduled new questioning sessions for caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers after they refused to cooperate, a judicial source said.
Lead investigator of Beirut blast, Judge Fadi Sawwan was supposed to go to the Grand Serail Monday to question Diab as a suspect for negligence that led to the Aug. 4 explosion which resulted in more than 200 deaths and thousands of injuries.
#BREAKING: Lebanon judge investigating the #Beirutblast has charged outgoing PM Hassan Diab & fmr ministers Ali Hasan Khalil, Ghazi Zaeiter & Youssef Fenianos with negligence causing deaths of 100s & injury to 1000s, judicial source tells me.
— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) December 10, 2020
He’s set to question them next week
However, Diab refused to be questioned, saying his “conscience is clear,” Sawwan rescheduled the questioning session for 9 a.m. Friday, the source said.
Appointments for questioning former Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, former Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos and former Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeaiter are scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively.
Sawwan charged the officials last week for crimes in connection to the blast, in what marked the first time high-ranking officials were charged four months after the horrific explosion.
The judge faced great criticism for his decision from the country’s leading Sunni figures, including the four former prime ministers that included current Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri who even visited Diab to express solidarity.
Hezbollah also denounced the move last week, with its ally the Amal Movement releasing a statement Monday, saying that the investigations should be shielded from politicization and that Sawwan's decision was a breach of the Constitution.
According to the judicial source Sawwan is pursuing the officials based on information that constitute criminal offenses and not for breach of duty and political responsibility that would otherwise be tried at the Supreme Council to try Presidents and Ministers.
The four officials currently charged were the first ones who Sawwan could find evidence on, the judicial source said, adding that once the judge finds evidence of negligence on other officials, he will pursue them in accordance to the relevant laws.
Sawwan is also set to question security officials as suspects in the blast probe this week.
He will interrogate former Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Walid Salman Wednesday and hold a joint hearing session with State Security Head Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba and State Security official Maj. Joseph Naddaf Thursday.
The joint session was scheduled for the judge to iron out any contradicting testimonies after having questioned Saliba last week as a suspect for his role in connection to the blast.
Meanwhile, State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat Monday recused himself as prosecutor in the investigation citing a conflict of interest as Zeaiter, who is a suspect in the case, is his brother-in-law, the state-run National News Agency said.
Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Khoury will proceed in his place.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
