The investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion, one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts in history, has made little headway amid a smear campaign against Judge Tarek Bitar and pushback from powerful Lebanese factions.
A senior official in the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah had warned Bitar last month the group would remove him from the inquiry, according to a journalist and a judicial source.
The complaints against Bitar were lodged by three former ministers he had sought to charge with negligence leading to the blast, which was caused by a massive amount of ammonium nitrate left in the middle of Beirut. All three have denied any wrongdoing. They questioned his partiality. Bitar has not commented on the accusations. He is not allowed to speak to the media.
Following Monday's decision by the court of cassation, Bitar will now be able to resume requests to interrogate top officials. But his efforts to question former and serving state officials - including the prime minister at the time of the blast, ex-ministers and senior security officials on suspicion of negligence - have been repeatedly denied.
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