Former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who resigned in the wake of the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, filed a suit against the state on Wednesday over his prosecution by investigating judge Tarek Bitar for his role in the disaster, local Al Jadeed TV reported.
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The suit, filed one day before a scheduled interrogation by the judge, means that Bitar must pause his prosecution of Diab once he is officially notified of the case, lawyer Nizar Saghieh of watchdog group Legal Agenda told Reuters.
Diab, who has been charged with negligence over the Aug. 4. 2020 port blast that killed more than 215 people, has missed at least two interrogation sessions scheduled by Bitar. Nearly all the senior officials he has sought to question have also spurned him.
A lawyer representing Diab did not respond to a request for comment.
