By Clovis Choueifaty BEIRUT, Aug 3 (KUNA) -- Lebanon marks on Wednesday the first anniversary of the Beirut Port explosion which killed nearly 218 people, wounded 6,500, and destroyed thousands of buildings and homes in the capital Beirut.
A national mourning was declared and public administrations, institutions, and municipalities will suspend their work on the occasion.
In a statement for KUNA, Shukri Haddad, lawyer of the victims said families are calling for justice and the immediate lifting of immunity granted to officials, while Lebanese authorities failed to hold anyone to account for the blast that caused massive destruction.
The prosecution attorneys are following up with the investigations and continuously submit the necessary judicial warrants, Haddad confirmed.
He added, "there are attempts to politicize the case by not lifting impunity of the accused officials and politicians, our main goal is to overcome any matter that might harm the investigation process." The process of lifting impunities have witnessed many political and military interferences that led to the removal of the Judge Fadi Sawaya, and Judge Tareq Bitar received the investigation file instead.
"With one year passing by after the explosion, there are still no permissions to prosecute any of the officials involved, since there is no specialized forensic investigator to follow up with ministers, heads of government, and top officials in Lebanon since 2014," Haddad clarified.
In the same context, Lebanese Bar association was awaiting the judiciary authority's investigation, and closely following up with the families of the victims who were not compensated.
On his part, spokesperson for the victims' families, Ibrahim Hutait told KUNA "officials are completely absent, there is no hope or promise to help finding the truth, and we are working with the civil society groups to get our rights.
"The victims' families are following up the investigation process and they are determined to find the truth," he said Last Friday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said he was willing to testify in the case only upon request of the international investigator.
During his meeting with the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Judge Ghassan Oueidat, President Aoun stressed his readiness to testify according to the article 85 of the code of criminal procedure.
The deadly explosion at Beirut Port took place on 4 August 2020, caused by hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored in warehouse 12 in the port. (end) kbs.nhq