Nassar says port blast indictment expected within 60-90 days
Families of victims of the Beirut port explosion gathered on Tuesday demanding answers and accountability on the sixth anniversary of the catastrophe, in a country long plagued by official impunity.
"Until now, we haven't gotten justice. There has been no accountability and nobody has been arrested," said Hiyam al-Bikai from a rally at the port to commemorate victims of the disaster, including her son Ahmad.
"This is an extremely painful anniversary. Our pain has not stopped and our wound has not healed," she told AFP.
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 yet been held accountable.
"We are waiting for the indictment in order to know how our children died, who brought the nitrate, who stored it, who set off the blast... We want them to be held to account," Bikai said.
"We want the full indictment, without any cover for anyone," she added.
In March, a judicial official told AFP that Judge Tarek Bitar had completed his probe involving some 70 defendants, including current and former politicians, security and military officials and civil servants.
He referred the case to the public prosecutor who was to study it, present his opinion and then refer it back to Bitar to issue the indictment.
The case is still with the public prosecutor, and nobody is in custody in Lebanon over it.
Justice Minister Adel Nassar told AFP from Tuesday's commemoration that the prosecutor was preparing his response.
"We expect that within a period of 60 to 90 days, he will refer the case back to the investigating judge, who will then issue the indictment act," Nassar said.
The move would pave the way for a trial to begin.
"It is the right of the victims, and of the Lebanese people too, in the face of a crime of this magnitude, for the truth to come out and justice to be served," Nassar said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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