British court hands victory to victims of Beirut port blast

A British court has ruled against a London-based company suspected of securing the ammonium nitrate blamed for the catastrophic explosion at the Beirut port in 2020, the Beirut Bar Association said on Thursday.
"This marks the first judicial ruling in the case of the Beirut port blast," Melhem Khalaf, a Lebanese lawmaker and an ex-head of Lebanon's Beirut Bar Association, told dpa.
On August 4, 2020, the explosion of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate inside the port killed more than 200 people, injured 6,000 and destroyed large parts of the city.
A year later, the association's prosecution office said it, along with a number of victims, had filed a civil lawsuit against the Savaro Ltd company before the High Court of Justice in London.
The London-registered trading company was suspected of "securing or disposing" the shipment of the ammonium nitrate in 2013 that ended up at the Beirut port.
A group of lawyers including Khalaf have been working with families of victims to get justice - and compensation - for them.
"The British High Court of Justice issued the ruling in favour of the port victims represented by the prosecution office [of the Beirut Bar Association] after they were able to stop the liquidation process, which was launched by the company in early 2021 to evade responsibility," Khalaf said.
The ruling London paves the way for the possibility of damages being awarded at a later stage.
The head of the Beirut Bar Association, Nader Kaspar, saw this ruling as "a great achievement that strengthens determination of the victims and lawyers to proceed and determine responsibilities."