Administration and Justice Committee Settles Debate on Amnesty Law, Affirms Separation of Powers

The Parliamentary Administration and Justice Committee held a session chaired by MP Georges Adwan, attended by Minister of Justice Adel Nassar, Prosecutor General Judge Ahmad Rami Al-Hajj, and member MPs.

After the session, Adwan said: "Following everything we saw in the media and discussions regarding the amnesty law and the Constitutional Council's decision, we held a session with the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General to clarify and explain among ourselves the course of events from a constitutional and legal perspective with full clarity. After this session, I want to confirm, after listening to the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General, that everyone respects constitutional and legal rules. The Parliament is the legislator, and the Constitutional Council reviews the constitutionality of laws. When it interprets, its interpretation is linked to what is appropriate with the Constitution first. The rulings of the Constitutional Council are final, and the judiciary does not intervene at all in changing them or in these matters. This was confirmed by the Prosecutor General, and the circulars that were issued, which some spoke about as if they interfered with the work of judges and how they would interpret laws..."

He added: "This statement is inaccurate. The circulars relate to logistical mechanisms of work. Therefore, after the clarification that occurred regarding the role of each institution, I believe things have returned to their proper course. I hope that the media will rely accurately on all these matters, because cooperation between authorities is one thing, and God forbid, anyone doing things that interfere with the work of another authority is something else. The meeting was fruitful, clear, and explanatory, and today there is a path for all laws."

Prosecutor General Judge Al-Hajj said: "It was a fruitful and constructive meeting. The Administration and Justice Committee includes all parliamentary blocs that participated and had a role in preparing the amnesty law. We affirm in the judiciary our commitment to applying the law based on the legislative text issued by the Parliament, as it is the owner of the authority to issue laws, within the framework of the decision issued by the Constitutional Council and the interpretations contained therein, which are binding interpretations. The decision of the Constitutional Council has the force of res judicata and is binding on all authorities, including us, in applying this law. Our presence today in the Parliament is for the purpose of applying the law."

He added: "In order to apply the law, we must understand the intent intended by the legislator in texts that may raise ambiguities. On one hand, my previous attendance at the Constitutional Council was also to emphasize the importance of the Constitutional Council, our commitment to institutional work, and our adherence to the decisions of the Constitutional Council. As I said, because the interpretation pronounced by the Constitutional Council in its decision is an interpretation of the legislator's will in the text, not a cancellation of the text, a modification of the text, a change in the text, or the exclusion of a specific part of the text without the entire text. That means the interpretation is an interpretation of the legislator's will. However, if the Constitutional Council finds that a legislative text is non-compliant with the Constitution, it does not resort to inserting an interpretation but rather invalidates the text for violating the Constitution. The concept of interpretation involves interpreting the text based on the minutes of the sessions of the House of Representatives, i.e., investigating the intention of the legislator. And we in the judiciary, when we interpret a text, we interpret it based on the spirit of the legislation and the goal of the legislator in creating this text, and we do not interpret it outside this consideration."

Al-Hajj affirmed: "Hence the importance of the meeting with representatives of the legislative authority represented by the Administration and Justice Committee, which includes various parliamentary blocs that contributed to preparing this legislative text. We understood and gained further understanding of the truth of the legislator's intention in some legislative texts. This is the foundation upon which we rely. The interpretation of the Constitutional Council, our interpretation, and the courts' interpretation of any legislative text are subject to the judge's authority, but within the constraint of the legislative text, the spirit of the legislation, and the intention of the legislator resulting from this text. We cannot impose an interpretation or commentary on a text that contradicts the spirit of the legislation or the intention of the legislator, because under the slogan of interpretation, we would be performing a legislative act rather than an interpretation. This is what I wanted to say."

He continued: "The circular we issued is a circular that does not relate to the application of a legal text or the exclusion of a text. The circular relates to the nature of the documents that criminal references should obtain to know whether the referral of this detainee or this convicted person is covered by the amnesty or not. This is a logistical process to know and speed up the application of the amnesty law according to the legislative text of the amnesty law."

Al-Hajj concluded: "From here, we established in each governorate a subsidiary operations room encompassing all agencies connected to a central operations room at the Gendarmerie command to expedite transactions for convicts, detainees, and litigants with the possible speed that can be achieved. We established two subsidiary work rooms in Mount Lebanon, one of them in Roumieh Prison, because Roumieh Prison contains the largest number of detainees, and there are convicted persons who do not have a lawyer to follow up on their files. Hence, my insistence on establishing an operations room in Roumieh Prison so that the detainee can submit his request to the prison commander, who refers his request to the competent authorities to decide on his matter without the need for any lawyer or reference to anyone."