·
·
Lebanon
Bar presidents in Beirut and Tripoli met with top prosecutors to address key issues affecting the judicial system's operation and agreed on measures to improve coordination.
The presidents of the Beirut and Tripoli Bar Associations, Imad Mortinos and Marwan Daher, accompanied by secretaries Nadim Hamadeh and Sami Al-Hassan, along with Beirut Bar Justice Palace commissioner Elie Al-Hashash, convened with the Disciplinary Prosecutor Judge Ahmad Rami Al-Hajj. The meeting included the Financial Prosecutor Judge Maher Shaito, the Beirut Appeals Prosecutor Judge Raja Hamoush, Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Sami Sader, South Prosecutor Judge Zahir Hamadeh, Nabatieh Prosecutor Judge Najat Abu Shaqra, Bekaa Prosecutor Judge Marcel Haddad, North Prosecutor Judge Hani Hilmi Al-Hajjar, and the Government Commissioner at the Military Court Judge Claude Ghanem. The discussion focused on the main challenges hindering the smooth functioning of the judicial system.
Judge Ahmad Rami Al-Hajj expressed full commitment to monitoring and addressing various obstacles to reinforce justice effectiveness and ensure the proper operation of judicial institutions.
The meeting concluded with the following decisions:
First, the Justice Palace commissioners in the Beirut and Tripoli Bar Associations were tasked with contacting prosecutors in the governorates to present the difficulties faced by lawyers and litigants in their daily judicial activities, aiming to find appropriate solutions.
Second, regarding the implementation of Article 47 of the amended Code of Criminal Procedure Law 191/2020, the following clarifications were noted:
1. When a lawyer is a plaintiff, it suffices for the opposing lawyer to declare in the report their commitment to obtain authorization to represent against their colleague, preserving the application of the Law Regulating the Legal Profession and the opposing lawyer’s legal rights, allowing the prosecutor to proceed with the investigation.
2. An immediate report against a lawyer is only opened in cases of flagrante delicto, provided the legal conditions and criteria for flagrante delicto are met. The date of the act’s commission, not the report’s drafting date, is considered for establishing flagrante delicto, within a 24-hour timeframe from the act.
Third, emphasis was placed on uniform standards for all investigation reports and complaints, adopting the following:
1. A lawyer appearing with their client before the judicial police who suspects misconduct or deviation in the investigation process by the investigator may directly contact the competent prosecutor to present the facts and explain the reasons for the suspicion regarding the investigation’s proper conduct.
2. The lawyer has the right to receive the release decision by hand, simultaneously with sending a copy from the competent office to the concerned party via fax or any official communication method.
3. The lawyer may request the judicial record of their client from the public prosecution and receive it directly from the office that received the request, instead of having to go to the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces to obtain it.
4. The date the complaint is received by the police station determines the identity of the on-duty prosecutor to be contacted by the judicial police, who continues to follow up on that complaint exclusively.
5. The lawyer has the right to obtain from the public prosecution a written statement indicating the complaint’s dismissal and the result of their client’s interrogation exclusively.
6. The judicial police shall refrain from contacting prosecutors for two hours daily, specifically from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
7. Regarding indictment decisions, referral orders are issued and the file is sent directly to the Criminal Court. If notifications arrive at the indictment office, they are transferred directly to the file in the Criminal Court.
8. Investigation and inquiry reports shall not remain open indefinitely; their duration is set at ten days, renewable once for an additional twenty days, with a maximum total duration of thirty days.
9. Any judicial authority must notify the Bar Association when summoning any lawyer as a witness.
10. Lawyers have the right to meet any detainee in all detention centers without needing prior permission from the public prosecution.
11. The General Security apparatus, before detaining any person at land, air, or sea border crossings, must, according to the General Security pursuit report, request the judicial record of the person to be detained from the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Division for verification purposes.
