The Derna Criminal Court decided to close deliberations in the trial of 16 people responsible for the Derna dams' rupture, adding that it had completed the investigation of the evidence of the case in accordance with the rules of trial management and decided to postpone the sentencing to July 28.
On December 28, the indictment chamber of the Derna Court of First Instance began the first trial session of 16 people responsible for the dams' collapse last September. The court ruled to continue the imprisonment of 14 out of 16 defendants, including two people who were tried in absentia as they were outside the country.
However, the Public Prosecution didn't reveal the identities of the defendants, with the exception of the Head of the Derna Reconstruction Fund and a member of the committee charged with implementing the reconstruction plan on charges of mismanaging their work.
On September 26, the Attorney General Al-Siddiq Al-Sour announced the filing of a criminal case against 16 officials as part of investigations he conducted regarding the collapse of the two Derna dams, and he pledged to prosecute those responsible through an impartial investigation.
Three days later, the prosecution ordered the imprisonment of 4 officials in the Derna dams' case, charging them with inadequate job performance: two members of the Derna Municipal Council, the director of the city’s reconstruction projects office, and the head of the technical committee tasked with implementing its reconstruction plan.
On January 11, the judge of the indictment chamber of the Derna Court of First Instance referred the case to the Court of Appeal in accordance with the indictment decision issued by the Attorney General, while the defendants remained in jail.
