The list of unresolved cases sitting in the Attorney General’s office is growing alarmingly long with some cases going back many years. And Attorney General Abdulqader Radwan’s recent release of three armed men accused of high-jacking the Morning Glory oil tanker—before even standing trial—has brought on widespread criticism of Libya’s judicial system.
The list of unresolved cases sitting in the Attorney General’s office is growing alarmingly long with some cases going back many years. And Attorney General Abdulqader Radwan’s recent release of three armed men accused of high-jacking the Morning Glory oil tanker—before even standing trial—has brought on widespread criticism of Libya’s judicial system.
In another contentious and still cold case, $12.8 million cash belonging to the Libyan Central Bank was stolen while it was being shipped to the bank’s Sirte branch in October 2012 by unidentified gunmen. No one has been charged with the crime.
Correspondents met with al-Saddik al-Sour the head investigator for Libya’s Prosecutor General and talked about these unsolved crime cases casting many shadows of doubt over Libya’s security.
Why did you release the militants who seized the Morning Glory oil tanker? Were you pressured to do so without observing the legal status of the imprisoned men?
The order to release the militants was issued by the Attorney General himself and you can ask him this question personally.
We, as an investigative section, should not release gunmen who are wanted by the public prosecutor and who are accused of seizing oil installations, suspending the work of production facilities, seizing Libyan oil and smuggling it, and causing serious damage to public funds. Until now, the crime’s impact is being felt and those who committed it shouldn’t be released because this will negatively impact public opinion.
It would have been possible to consider releasing them when the impact of the crime ends and when the oil ports open. This should be the second phase when they, and those who commit similar crimes, are brought to the court of law and stand trial for their crimes.
I believe that this act will encourage many people to commit crimes. Everybody will feel tempted to close a factory, block a road, and close a production facility in order to reach the demands which he believes are legitimate by using illegitimate means. When there are deterring measures, this would not happen. Such cases will bring chaos to the country and people will not feel secure or safe. They will not believe that they are living under the rule of law.
This was our point of view. However, the Attorney General has a different view. He believes that the Interior and Defense ministries are weak, and it is not possible to implement the law. For him, it is better to yield to peaceful solutions in order not let the country slip into strife and war. Perhaps he thought their release would solve the entire problem.
Don’t you agree that the act of the Attorney General of releasing the defendants may lead to increased loss of people’s confidence in the judicial system?
There is no doubt about it, especially among ordinary citizens, and the majority will understand this act as a submission to criminals or something of the like. This will weaken people’s confidence in the judiciary and its capacities.
However, I want the citizens to rest assured that the judiciary will continue to do its best and that this issue will not become a stumbling block in its efforts to building the rule of law, which is sought by everyone.
In December 2013, you held a press conference where you stressed that you know the assailants who attacked the central bank’s assets in Sirte. Were you able to arrest any of them or to recover the stolen amounts?
Until now, none of them has been arrested although there are arrest warrants against them issued by the Attorney General and these warrants were circulated to all concerned authorities. Now, they are known to all concerned agencies. We heard that some of them escaped and they were arrested by the Marzouq Directorate’s Umm al-Araneb police station in Libya’s far south, but we also informed that they are now free and that there are investigations going on about the way this took place.
It seems that some of them – according to information which we have received – have fled outside Libya and others are still in the city of Sirte. The state is unable to implement the arrest warrant although the investigations took place over a period of 37 days and the work load was heavy. We were able to identify the perpetrators under very difficult security conditions lived by the members of the public prosecution who were investigating the issue at the Attorney General’s office in the city of Sirte. In spite of all the bad circumstances and direct and indirect threats, the investigations were completed and we were able to find the truth. However, neither the Interior Ministry nor the Defense Ministry did anything about that.
What about the force formed by the National Congress to arrest the wanted criminals?
It did not make any achievement in this case as with many other cases. Even in the case of the kidnapping of former Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, there are some known persons who were accused of the attack and the Interior Ministry as well as the Criminal Investigation Agency was informed in order to arrest them, but until now they are still free although the victim in this case was the former Prime Minister himself.
Your latest statement on the assassination of Abdul Salam al-Mismari in which you said that the file sent to you contains two documents, one notifies about the incident and the other is the report of the forensic medicine, opens the file of the Benghazi assassinations. Have you been able to find any useful information about the party that stands behind these assassinations?
There are some attacks which I prefer to use the term murder in describing them. These are acts of murder, regardless of the method used. Some are using bombed cars and others are using guns. Some are killing one person while others are killing a number of people.
Let us go back to your question. In some of the cases the investigations made by the public prosecutor were useful in revealing some of the persons who should be investigated, but in a large number of these cases the role of the Interior Ministry, criminal investigations department, information security and other agencies is missing.
These cases require the collection of information, research, investigations and the analysis of information gathered in order to understand the motives behind these crimes. Today, the number of crimes in Benghazi consists of more than 200 murder cases and there are tens of similar acts of killing in the city of Derna. Are there similar motives behind all these crimes or are there different motives? Who is behind these crimes? Are there ideological groups behind them or are there people who want to tamper with the country’s security?
Apparently, there are many motives behind these crimes. If we can categorize them, we would be able to know those who are standing behind them and take them to the court of law but the role of the Interior Ministry is missing.
There is also the issue of the Benghazi Security Directorate. Everyone heard from the media that there are serious investigations on corruption and neglect by the directorate’s employees. If the Directorate is accused of corruption, absence of harmony and agreement between its members, exchange of mutual accusations of neglect and add when there is a big number of employees who only receive salaries without going to work, how can we find the perpetrators of these crimes?
In fact, the Interior Ministry needs to re-build itself again in a way that makes it implement the instructions of the public prosecutor related to search and investigations on the perpetrators. I assure you that when we find the needed information and discover the perpetrators, we will take the legal procedures needed against them. However, the problem is that we are always facing the same problem: the orders of the Attorney General are not implemented.
Regarding murder crimes, I assure you that many of the perpetrators are known. The question that needs to be answered is: are they involved in other crimes or not? This needs further research and investigation.
Why didn’t the media reveal the names of those involved in these crimes?
This is because until now they haven’t been arrested. If we announce their names in the media we will lose our evidence, they might escape and go unpunished and they might prepare themselves, mislead the investigations and dispose of the evidence.
Are you accusing the Interior Ministry of this shortcoming or failure?
I cannot tell if the ministry is deliberately not reacting or if it is incapable of reacting. If we find out that it failed and we have evidence of its failure, we will take the needed procedures. We are now investigating the Interior Ministry’s Benghazi Security Directorate issue. .
Learn more next week in Part II of Correspondents’ interview with al-Saddik al-Sour.
