Head of Lebanon's cassation court, which rejected the competence of military tribunals to try anti-Syrian Christian militants rounded up last month, resigned Monday in protest of the "illegal appeal" presented by the military court administration against his verdict, said the Daily Star newspaper.
Judge Ralph Riashi tendered his resignation to Justice Minister Samir Jisr and to the magistrates' high council, the paper said.
The judge cited two instances in which his court was allegedly slighted.
In the first, Riashi alluded to a recent news conference held by Chief Military Prosecutor Nasri Lahoud, during which he accused the Court of Cassation of being slow, said the paper. Without using Lahoud's name, Riashi repeated the prosecutor's words, in which he mocked the court by saying that it leaves its cases to "rot."
The second objection related to the decision to publicize Lahoud's request to overturn a decision issued by Riashi's court, before that request had even reached the relevant judicial body.
Sources close to the issue told the paper that Lahoud's request, which was published in the media Friday, did not reach the Riashi's court until Monday.
The Court of Cassation is tasked with reviewing decisions that have been handed down by the military courts – Albawaba.com
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