Mohamed Bujaneh, George Grant and Maha Ellawati BENGHAZI – Mustafa Abdul Jalil will stand trial “very soon" in connection with the killing of General Abdul Fatah Younis, a military prosecutor in Benghazi has informed the Libya Herald. The former NTC chairman was questioned last week over possible involvement in the murder of Younis, who commanded revolutionary forces against Gaddafi prior to his death on July 28 last year. The prosecutor, a colleague of the military prosecutor investigating the case, also confirmed that Jalil had been charged with two separate offenses, misuse of powers and committing acts that would harm Libyan unity. “The first charge relates to his creation of the investigative committee that issued Younis's arrest warrant, whilst the second charge relates to the fact that the consequence of that decision could have resulted in tribal conflict and damage to Libyan unity at a critical period of the revolution," the prosecutor said. There are also rumors of a possible third charge against Jalil, although the prosecutor denied any knowledge of it when questioned by this paper. There is also some speculation that the investigation may result in an outcome that would lead the military prosecutor to withdraw the charges against Jalil, although this has not been confirmed. Jalil has been strongly advised not to leave the country owing to the potentially imminent date of the trial, although contrary to some reports, his passport has not been taken from him. Last week, the head of the military prosecutor's office in Benghazi, Saleh Albishari, was quoted as saying that “the prosecutor did not prevent Abdul Jalil from traveling abroad but it requested him to inform the prosecutor of the date of his travel in order not to contrast with the date of his trial." To date, very little of what happened to General Younis has been confirmed, and the stated purpose of the current investigation is to try and establish what actually happened. What is known is that shortly before his death, Younis was summoned from the front by a committee of four judges with the knowledge of the NTC's executive committee, although the NTC itself was not responsible for the order. He was taken to a military compound on July 27 and was found dead together with two other officers the next day. Both they and their vehicle had been burned. A senior security source in Benghazi has told the Libya Herald that the base to which Younis was taken belonged to Ahmed Bukatela, a prominent Islamist who leads the Obeida militia in the city. Today, it was revealed that Bukatela is one of seven prominent Islamists to be named in connection with the assassinations of senior security officers in Benghazi in recent months, although there is no definitive evidence of this as yet. The source claims that the men who brought Younis to Bukatera were not known to him, nor were they affiliated with his group. He claimed, moreover, that Bukatera had initially objected to Younis being brought to his compound, and had ordered that he not be harmed once he agreed to it. Younis was then taken from the compound in the early hours of the morning of July 28 and not heard of again. During his testimony last week, Jalil spoke of the deep mistrust that existed toward Younis amongst many revolutionaries, and the potential threats that were made against him. “The revolutionaries were saying at the time that this man should not be allowed to share our victory with us, when he was the very man who ordered the security brigades, during the 1980s and 1990s, to crush us down", Jalil said. “The revolutionaries prevented him from entering their operations room, insisting that if he did so, he would have to take responsibility for what happened to him," Jalil continued. The former NTC chairman also took personal responsibility for the appointment of Younis to command military operations, and that his colleagues in the NTC respected his opinion in doing so. Jalil maintained that neither he nor any member of the NTC had anything to do with the killing of Younis and recalled how, on the contrary, he had to make several calls just to confirm the news. – Libya Herald
