The judge of the indictment chamber of the Derna Court of First Instance referred the case of the “collapse of the Derna dams” to the Court of Appeal in accordance with the indictment decision issued by the Public Prosecutor, while the defendants are still jailed.
The indictment chamber of the Derna Court of First Instance began on December 28 the first trial session of 16 people responsible for the flood disaster that swept Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar region, which led to the collapse of the two dams in the Derna valley last September.
The court ruled to continue the imprisonment of 14 out of 16 defendants, including two who were tried in absentia for being outside the country, without the Public Prosecution revealing the identities of the defendants, except for the head of the Derna Reconstruction Fund and a member of the committee charged with implementing the reconstruction plan on charges of mismanagement.
On September 26, the Public Prosecutor 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. He pledged to prosecute those responsible and that the investigation would be impartial.
The Public Prosecution then ordered the imprisonment of four officials in the Derna dam collapse disaster: two members of the Derna Municipal Council, the director of the city’s reconstruction projects office, and the head of the technical committee charged with implementing its reconstruction plan, after confronting them about their inadequate job performance.
