“Lebanon Debate”
“It is not a pomegranate with full hearts” is the proverb that applies to the relationship between Defense Minister Maurice Slim and the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, and those in their orbit, and since the issue relates to the military institution, the “military order” from the Army Commander controls the ministry’s campus, so no voice is louder than the voice of the army commander. Leader.
The Commander issued a transmitted telegram annulling lawyer Naji Al-Bustani’s contract with the Ministry of Defense, and issued a circular to each of the following: the Military Chamber of the Ministry of National Defense, the Army Staff, the Directorate of Intelligence, the Directorate of Administrative and Financial Issues, and the rest of the departments in the military institution under the title Terminating an Agreement with a Lawyer. It stated:
– The agreement whose number is listed in the attached document concluded with lawyer Naji Nabih Al-Bustani, affiliated with the Military Chamber at the Ministry of National Defense, will be administratively terminated at the General Headquarters of the Army, as of 2/23/2024.
– The military papers delivered to the person concerned during his period of service will be retrieved and referred to the Army Command – Army Staff for Al-Adeed – Directorate of Personnel, within a week of its date.
– The recipients are instructed to do the necessary, each in what concerns him.
As for the direct reasons for terminating the contract with the lawyer and former minister Naji Al-Bustani, they are explained by concerned sources, who indicate that the straw that broke the camel’s back came against the backdrop of the appointment of the judges of the Permanent Military Court, the Military Court of Cassation, and the individual military judges, and the first spark of the dispute goes back to Al-Bustani’s comments on accepting donations. By the army leadership, which he considered inconsistent with the law.
In the details, “At the end of each year, military judicial assignments to the Permanent Military Court, the Military Court of Cassation, and individual military judges end, and the appointments are usually made by judicial judges or officers licensed in law, and in exceptional cases, uncertified officers.”
As usual, the Minister of Defense, Maurice Slim, sent to the leaders of the security services in the army and the security forces and public security to provide him with the names of certified officers to be appointed to these centers. The Director General of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Imad Othman, and the Director General of Public Security, Major General Elias Al-Bisari, sent the names of the licensed officers. The Army Commander also sent the names. Officers, but most of them are not certified in law, although there are 200 officers in the military institution who are certified in law.
As the disputes over the appointment of new judges continued, and in anticipation of the expiration of the duties of the appointed judges for the year 2023, and so that there would not be a vacancy in the permanent military court, the military court of cassation, and the individual military judges, the Minister of Defense extended the extension of the previous courts, which expire at the end of the year 2023, and the Army Commander, Joseph Aoun, responded by preventing the officers from serving. Joining the courts.
After the work of these courts was paralyzed by the ban, interventions began. Three licensed officers, a judicial officer, and an unlicensed officer were proposed to the military court, in order to find a solution as this court stopped working. For the second time, the army commander prevented the officers from joining the court, under the slogan: “Either the court will be appointed.” All judges are in cassation and single judges or “no military court”.
However, the dispute erupted with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s letter to the Minister of Defense, which followed the visit of the Army Commander to the Government Palace, asking him why the military court had not been appointed? The Minister of Defense responded with a detailed legal correspondence explaining the illegality of assigning uncertified officers to the military court in light of the presence of certified officers in the military institution.
This letter, written by the ministry’s legal advisor, Naji Al-Bustani, in a legal wording consistent with the Defense Law and with his legal opinion and convictions, provoked the army commander, who met with the latter on January 22nd to inform him that he could not continue. The two parties agreed to terminate the contract between them, and the lawyer Al-Bustani signed the termination of the contract. Before General Aoun issued the telegram canceling it.
The case ended at this point, but the vacuum continued in the military court, as it is still dysfunctional due to not only political, but military discontent as well.
This “nag” was not witnessed by the Ministry of Defense during the 50 years of Lawyer Al-Bustani’s work there and his contemporaneity with 13 Ministers of Defense and 9 Army Commanders. Many times, they disagreed with Al-Bustani’s legal opinion and proceeded according to their vision, but this was the first time he paid the price for his legal opinion.
The army commander, who lived with 4 defense ministers, did not agree with any of them, and the matter reached the ministry’s lawyer, which raises question marks about the way a supposed “presidential candidate” would approach state affairs, especially if he was lucky enough to reach the Baabda seat.
2024-01-30 16:09:52
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