Lebanese ex-president in court: Beirut port explosion has consequences

The August 4, 2020, explosion in the Beirut port has legal repercussions for Lebanon's ex-president Michel Aoun. At that time, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded, killing over 250 people and injuring at least 6,500. Michel Aoun was president at the time. A Lebanese public prosecutor is now bringing charges: Aoun is said to have known about the danger but did nothing.

Michel Aoun was born on February 18, 1935 in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut. He is a Maronite Christian. His family comes from Aichiye, a Christian village in southern Lebanon. His father is said to have been a butcher. Aoun made a career in the military: at the age of 20 he entered the military academy in Beirut and in 1958 he became an artillery officer. He climbed the career ladder in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The civil war began in 1975. Aoun remained in the military. At the age of 49, he became commander-in-chief of the army in 1984 - the youngest at the time.

Towards the end of the war, a steep career followed - and a steep fall. In 1988, Parliament did not elect a president. On September 22, shortly before his term expired, Amine Gemayel appointed Michel Aoun as prime minister of a military government and dismissed the incumbent government under Salim al-Hoss. The office is reserved for Sunnis, which led to fighting: Aoun in East Beirut, supported by Christians and Iraq, against al-Hoss in West Beirut, supported by Muslims and Syria.

Aoun acted like a warlord, there were reports of executions and around 1,000 civilian deaths. In 1989, an agreement ended the war and the warlords agreed on a general amnesty law. Aoun refused to recognize the agreement and a newly elected president. He lived in exile for 15 years and founded the Free Patriotic Movement party.

On May 7, 2005, after the assassination of Sunni President Rafiq al-Hariri, Aoun returned. In 2006, he surprised everyone with an ideological shift: his party formed a political alliance with the Shiite, pro-Syrian Hezbollah. On October 31, 2016, Michel Aoun officially became president, after a 29-month vacuum in parliament. Aoun is a “kind, compassionate and warm man” who “avoids political discussions like the plague,” wrote Bilal Saab, a former Pentagon employee, when Aoun took office in 2016. They had met frequently to discuss security cooperation. “He was completely non-partisan and had not the slightest interest in giving speeches or appearing in the media,” said Saab.

During Aoun's time in office, the economy collapsed, triggered by years of mismanagement and corruption. On August 4, 2020, this dangerous mixture exploded in the harbor with a big bang.

After the explosion, Aoun claimed that he had only been informed about the explosives three weeks before the explosion. That was “too late,” he told broadcaster Al Jadeed on August 30, 2020. He also had no authority to give instructions over the port facilities.

Mohammed Saab, a prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, called on the investigating judge on Tuesday to open criminal proceedings against Aoun. A judicial representative said on Tuesday that he had “advance knowledge of the storage of ammonium nitrate in the port and the associated danger” “without taking the necessary measures” or involving the Supreme Defense Council.