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Higher Judicial Council appoints six chamber presidents of the Court of Cassation
On Monday, the Higher Judicial Council appointed six chamber presidents of the Court of Cassation. These were added to the four others already present (Souheir Harakeh, Afif Hakim, Jamal Hajjar, Jamale Khouri), who have not been able to hold a meeting since January, following the retirement of one of their colleagues, Roukoz Rizk, which caused the loss of the required quorum of five for the assembly's meeting.
Five other members of the assembly had retired before him, but were not replaced until Monday, due to a political tug-of-war and President Michel Aoun having blocked a judicial reshuffle since March 2020.
The partial appointments announced late Monday evening came after yet another lengthy meeting of the Higher Judicial Council, in which differences over who should be appointed to the posts prevailed.
These appointments require the signatures of the justice and finance ministers, the prime minister and the president of the republic. The council's members had repeatedly tried to complete the formation of the assembly, but the steps had ended in failure, especially because of the veto opposed by some of them, including Court of Cassation Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, on the appointment of Randa Kfoury.