Bulgaria Rejects Lebanon's Request To Extradition Suspects Of Beirut Port 2020 Explosion

Lebanese flag. (Charbel Karam-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Sofia's court in Bulgaria rejected Lebanon's request to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a ship owner is strongly suspected of being linked to a devastating explosion at Beirut Harbor in 2020.

Grechushkin is a Russian-Siprus citizen 48 years old, detained in Bulgaria.

The explosion at Beirut Port on August 4, 2020, became one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, destroying most of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring more than 6,500 people.

Grechushkin, who was arrested in September at Sofia Airport, has been accused by Lebanese judicial authorities of "entering explosives into Lebanon a terrorist act that resulted in the death of a large number of people (and) disabling the engine with the intention of sinking the ship," according to Bulgarian prosecutors, quoted from AFP, Thursday 11 December.

However, the Sofia City Court on Wednesday rejected a request for Lebanese extradition.

"Lebanon did not guarantee that, if he [Grechushkin] was sentenced to death, the sentence would not be carried out," Grechushkin's lawyer, Ekaterina Dimitrova, said.

Authorities in Lebanon said the 2020 explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of nitrate amonium fertilizer were stored carelessly for years.

Beirut authorities have identified Grechushkin as the owner of Rhosus, the ship carrying an amonium nitrate into the port of the explosion site.

On the one hand, Lebanese investigations into the explosion have long been hampered by legal and political disputes.

Those interrogated in the case included former Lebanese prime minister Hassan Diab, as well as military and security officials.