Press sources confirmed that the lawyers for Khalifa Haftar asked the judge of the Federal Court of Eastern Virginia, Leonie Brinkma, to exempt them from representing Haftar for not paying his fees and failing to communicate with them during the trial.
The Head of the Libyan-American Alliance Esam Omeish, who is in charge of initiating criminal lawsuits against Haftar at US courts, through his media platform, published the lawyer’s team document, which showed their assertion that the defendant “did not materially fulfill his obligations towards the defense lawyer, and did not communicate or cooperate with his lawyer team during the trial, saying if representation continues at this stage, it will impose an unreasonable financial burden on the defense lawyer, so the lawyers’ team respectfully requests that the court accept an order allowing them to withdraw from the position of registry lawyer for defendant Khalifa Haftar.”
Omeish revealed that the lawyer for the families of the Libyan victims registered a legal document in the court to demand the verdict in absentia of conviction, pointing out that the next hearing on June 10 will be decisive, and the court had set a date for Haftar to attend a month before the session to question him in three civil cases that were filed by the families of victims in Libya accusing him of extrajudicial killing and torturing civilians, but he didn’t attend without an excuse.
