The international news agency Reuters reported on Sunday that a court in eastern Libya has begun the retrial of 12 officials accused in the case of the collapse of the Derna Valley dams during the 2023 flood disaster. The retrial follows a decision by the Supreme Court, which accepted the appeal against the previous verdicts.
According to a judicial source and a lawyer representing one of the defendants, the Supreme Court overturned the earlier rulings issued by the Derna Court of Appeal, which had sentenced the officials to prison terms ranging from 9 to 27 years, citing that those rulings violated the law. The Court then ordered a new trial to be held.
The judicial source added that the first session of the retrial was held today at the Benghazi Court of Appeal, and that the court decided to postpone the case to November 30, while keeping all defendants in detention, according to Reuters.
