Calm reigns in Beirut Justice Palace

The Supreme Judicial Council meeting, which has yet to decide when to meet again, was canceled following Thursday's developments. 

This also comes after the failure of the efforts of some of its members to pressure to appoint a judge to look into the public prosecutor of cassation's claim against Judge Tarek Bitar's over usurpation of authority.

However, some sources said the Head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Souheil Abboud, seeks to deal with the matter wisely before appointing a judge to investigate Bitar.

What is happening amid the peak of the judiciary's divisions?

Several judges support the Public Prosecutor of Cassation, Judge Oweidat, considering that Bitar usurped an authority not belonging to him by taking over the probe on his own.

At the same time, legal sources believed that Oweidat was the one who broke the law and could be held accountable for "the crime of facilitating the escape of detainees and hindering judicial decisions when he refused to inform defendants."

Amidst all the tensions, the judicial investigator intends to continue his work. The sessions are ongoing, and the issuance of the indictment becomes inevitable after a few months, even if the defendants insist on being absent.

But then the decision will face more than an obstacle by the Court of Cassation.

Furthermore, any indictment is supposed to be presented to the Public Prosecution before its issuance to be revised.

However, Oweidat circulated to the Public Prosecution office the failure to receive any document from the judicial investigator.

Consequently, failing to conduct the cassation proceedings to examine them makes the indictment invalid before the Judicial Council, and then the file will remain without trial.

According to the Cassation, Bitar is not allowed to investigate the Port blast case. Thus, there is no value to any decision he issues because he is prohibited from working on the file.

And since we have never experienced what we are currently witnessing, waiting is the wisest course of action.