Lebanon’s judiciary has reopened a politically charged case targeting Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, as the country also awaits Bulgaria’s response to an extradition request for Igor Grechushkin, the operator of the “Rhosus” ship that carried the ammonium nitrate which devastated Beirut in 2020.

The Beirut Indictment Chamber, chaired by Judge Elias Eid, overturned an earlier ruling by Investigating Judge Habib Rizkallah, instructing the Public Prosecution to supply him with documents supporting its case against Bitar, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Rizkallah had previously refused to pursue the case, calling the prosecution’s filing “defective” because it lacked evidence of Bitar’s alleged offenses. He relied on Article 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to justify rejecting the case outright.

But the indictment chamber said Rizkallah should have invoked Article 62, which authorizes an investigating judge to demand that prosecutors submit supporting evidence. It concluded unanimously that Rizkallah’s refusal to act had no legal basis, effectively compelling him to proceed once the prosecution furnishes the requested documents.

The decision now puts Rizkallah before a critical choice. Once he receives the material from the prosecution office, he must either advance with the case, which accuses Bitar of “abuse of authority” and “usurping the capacity of an investigating judge,” or dismiss it for lack of legal foundation. Pursuing the charges could upend Bitar’s entire probe by invalidating interrogations and investigative steps he has taken since being charged by former Prosecutor General Ghassan Oueidat.

Alternatively, rejecting the case would lift a major judicial roadblock that has stalled progress for more than two years, clearing the way for Bitar to resume questioning suspects, including Grechushkin, and to finalize his long-delayed indictment.

Judicial sources told local Nidaa al-Watan that the Public Prosecution has already begun reviewing the indictment chamber’s decision and is preparing to deliver the documents to Rizkallah, accelerating the timeline for a much-anticipated ruling.