A Libyan court has sentenced 12 officials to prison terms ranging from 9 to 27 years for their roles in the collapse of several dams in Derna last year, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of residents, according to the Attorney-General's statement on Sunday.
The officials, tasked with overseeing the country's dam infrastructure, were convicted by the Court of Appeal in Derna. Four other officials were acquitted. Derna, a coastal city with a population of 125,000, suffered extensive damage last September due to catastrophic floods triggered by Storm Daniel.
The floods led to the destruction of dams, sweeping away buildings and obliterating entire neighborhoods, with thousands killed and many more missing. The Attorney-General in Tripoli indicated that three defendants were ordered to repay funds acquired through illegal means, though specific names and positions of the defendants were not disclosed.
A judicial source in Derna informed Reuters that the convicted officials were charged with negligence, premeditated murder, and misappropriation of public funds, and they have the option to appeal the verdicts. A joint report by the World Bank, United Nations, and European Union in January identified the flooding in Derna as a climate and environmental disaster, estimating the cost of reconstruction and recovery at $1.8 billion.
The report attributed the dam failures partly to outdated design based on obsolete hydrological data and partly to inadequate maintenance and governance issues exacerbated by over a decade of conflict in Libya. Since 2014, Libya has been divided between competing power centers in the east and west, following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-supported uprising in 2011.
