A US Federal Court has agreed to the plaintiffs' request to resume the trial of Khalifa Haftar, which was interrupted due to the elections that were to take place on 24 December last year, Emadeddin Muntasser, the President of the Democracy and Human Rights Foundation, has confirmed.

According to Muntasser, the court had set June 10 as the last date for completing the interrogation sessions and June 16 as a proposed date for the pre-trial session, cautioning that it would consider suspending the legal proceedings in the event of any political interference in the case.

A hearing session took place on Friday at the request of the attorney for plaintiff Ali Hamza to reconsider its decision to suspend the trial until after the elections, Muntasser says.

At the hearing, the plaintiff's lawyer reviewed a set of indicators that denotes the difficulty to hold any elections in 2022, including the parliament’s decisions to extend the transitional period and their selection of a new prime minister.

The lawyer highlighted the continuing tension and turmoil in which Haftar remains a major party and pointed out that linking the resumption of the trial with the political stability in Libya makes justice a distanced possibility.

Muntasser indicated that the counsel reiterated in a previous memorandum to the court that his office and client did not take any steps or make any statements that had a political dimension but that their only goal was to achieve justice.

In response to the plaintiff's lawyer and his request to compel Haftar to pay the financial penalties ruled by the court, the latter's lawyer expressed surprise at his client's failure to pay the fines.

Muntasser said the court's ruling concerns the case of Ali Hamza and does not appeal to other cases.