Justice Minister Adel Nassar has referred a judge for investigation after he released members of Hezbollah who had been arrested for possessing illegal weapons, media reports said on Monday.

The three defendants were detained on March 3 at a Lebanese Army checkpoint while in possession of weapons and grenades. They were charged by the government prosecutor before the Military Court and formally brought before the court as detainees.

The first trial session took place on Friday, March 6. During the proceedings, the defendants admitted their affiliation with Hezbollah. However, the court did not issue a ruling that day as scheduled. Instead, it opted to continue the trial and re-interrogate the defendants.

According to LBCI, the Permanent Military Court later fined each of the three Hezbollah members 1,900,000 Lebanese pounds ($20) for possessing and transporting unlicensed weapons and ordered the confiscation of the seized arms. Earlier reporting from Al-Jadeed TV indicated that the defendants had been found with light and medium firearms, and each had been questioned individually for about five minutes.

Consequently, Nassar referred civil judge Abbas Geha, who sits on the military court, for investigation following his decision to release the Hezbollah members, local media reported. Al-Jadeed said Nassar acted in response to complaints about Geha’s ruling, while LBCI added that the minister wants to determine whether the judge had been subjected to external pressures influencing his decision.

Government Commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Claude Ghanem, appealed the lenient ruling before the Military Court of Cassation, seeking harsher sentences.

MTV Lebanon reported a growing push to dismiss Brigadier General Wissam Fayyad, head of the military court, over the release of the three detainees, which critics say contravened recent Cabinet decision to ban Hezbollah's miltary activity.

A military source noted that such a dismissal would require approval from both the Defense Minister and the Lebanese Army commander.