Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday stressed that “there will be no immunity for any wrongdoer” in the port blast case, days after lawmakers held an indecisive meeting over Judge Tarek al-Bitar’s request for lifting the parliamentary immunity of three MPs.
“We stress to the families of the martyrs, wounded and those affected that the crime of the Beirut port blast was a national crime that deeply affected the Lebanese, and we will not accept, under any circumstances, less than knowing the entire truth with all its details and penalizing those who caused it regardless of their positions,” Berri said in a written statement marking the 2006 war with Israel.
“The shortest route to the truth would be implementing the law away from incitement and to put the cause of the martyrs and its sacredness before any political, electoral or populist considerations,” the Speaker added.
“With all due transparency and calm, we emphasize that there will be no immunity for any wrongdoer in any position, and that parliament will cooperate with the judiciary to the utmost level, under the ceiling of the law and constitution,” Berri went on to say, noting that “immunity is solely for the blood of the martyrs and for the country, human’s dignity, the constitution and the law, not for the law of the jungle.”
As for the issue of the stalled government formation process, Berri said “obstruction” and “political and constitutional absurdity” are tantamount to “treason against Lebanon and the Lebanese.”