Caretaker Minister of Justice Henry El-Khoury revealed that he had not reached “the stage of suggesting the name of an alternate judge for the judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion, Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, and this issue is still being studied,” explaining that “this is an administrative decision, not a judicial one.”
Al-Khoury confirmed in a television interview: “I did not remove Judge Al-Bitar, and the indictment is still in his hand,” noting that “when he returns, the task of the alternate judge will end.”
He pointed out that “it belongs to the Minister of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council, the right to cancel or amend the appointment decision, according to jurisprudence,” stressing that “the judiciary cannot remain idle.”
