The Head of the Libyan-American Alliance (LAA), Essam Omeish, has announced that US Virginia District Court judge, Leonie Brinkema, has dismissed Khalifa Haftar’s motion – through his lawyer – for invoking the state secrets privilege against the lawsuits filed by the families of victims.
Omeish told Libya Alahrar TV channel that judge Brinkema had denied Haftar lawyer’s motion and asked that he would attend court hearings as soon as possible.
“Lawyers from both sides agreed to find a suitable date for court hearings in the next few weeks.” Omeish explained on Friday.
The Head of the Democracy and Human Rights Foundation, Emadeddin Muntasser, said earlier that the US district court in Virginia would hear Haftar lawyer’s motion for the state secrets privilege, citing that Haftar was a high-ranking military figure in Libya.
On August 05, the federal court agreed to give the plaintiffs’ lawyer a chance to depose Haftar for three hours within 60 days.
The LAA said last July that it had filed a new lawsuit against Haftar and the chief of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin – who was alive at the time – at federal court in Washington D.C. for their part in the crimes committed by Wagner mercenaries against civilians during the offensive on Tripoli in 2019.
