Higher Judicial Council Convenes on Judge Ghada Aoun's 'Raids'

W460

The Higher Judicial Council convened on Monday to discuss its position on the latest actions of Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun, with insistence on taking disciplinary measures against her, media reports said.

This coincided with a sit-in staged by a number demonstrators outside the Justice Palace in support of Lebanon's State Prosecutor Ghassan Oweidat, while another group of demonstrators stood in support of the controversial judge Aoun.

Oweidat had earlier dismissed Aoun from an investigation into possible currency export violations which drew the ire of FPM supporters. But Aoun defied Oweidat and carried out two raids on Michel Mecattaf money exchange houses in northern Lebanon over the weekend accompanied by security forces.

Aoun was also accompanied by supporters and activists of the Free Patriotic Movement during the first raid on offices of Michel Mecattaf, a top foreign currency exporter on Friday.

According to Mecattaf, they tried to enter the office by force.

In response, caretaker Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm held an emergency meeting on Saturday in the presence of Oweidat, head of the High Judicial Council Judge Suhail Abboud and Judicial Inspection Authority head Judge Borkan Saad.

Najem voiced anger at the incident, saying what happened indicates the “failure of the state’s institutions.”

Judge Aoun has overstepped her position’s limits previously. There are several complaints against her before the Judicial Inspection Authority.

SourceNaharnet
Comments 3
Thumb ex-fpm 19 April 2021, 12:56

Aoun is still holding the judicial appointments and refusing to sign them because Ghada Aoun was moved to another position. Then he and his corrupt party talk about independent justice system, fighting corruption, and forensic audits. What Ghada Aoun did is an unforgivable crime that should be severely punished but that remains a wish in a system based on nepotism and sectarianism.

Thumb i.report 19 April 2021, 15:26

A magistrate who invites FPM partisans on Twitter to support her isn’t politically independent .
She deserves to get evicted without pay.

Minister Fahmi said 95% of them were corrupt, it’s more like 99.99%

Missing 5-7doud 19 April 2021, 16:36

Maybe Ghada Aoun and her Aouni groupies should raid the Lebanese-Syrian border, so they could learn all about how the resistance is protecting the interests of the Lebanese people and helping stimulate the failure of the state’s institutions.

When asked about smuggling across the Lebanese-Syrian border Hezbollah's Sheikh Sadek Naboulsi was clear: "Of course, smuggling is an integral part of the resistance and the protection of the interests of the Lebanese people"