BENGHAZI: A Libyan court has sentenced 12 officials to prison in connection with the collapse of several dams in the city of Derna last year that killed thousands of people, the prosecutor general said Sunday.
Officials responsible for managing the country's dams were sentenced to nine to 27 years in prison by an appeals court in Derna, with four officials acquitted.
The coastal city of Derna, a city of 125,000 people, was devastated in September by severe flooding caused by Storm Daniel.
Thousands of people have died and thousands more are missing as floodwaters from dams collapsed, swept away homes and destroyed parts of residential areas.
The Tripoli prosecutor's office said three defendants were ordered to “return the money obtained through illegal profits,” in a statement that did not name or position those on trial.
“The convicted officers have been charged with negligence, intentional killing and misuse of taxpayer funds,” a judicial source in Derna told Reuters by telephone, adding that they had the right to appeal the verdict.
A January report by the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union described the severe flash floods in Derna as a climate and environmental disaster that will require $1.8 billion in reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The report said the dam's collapse was partly due to a design based on outdated hydrological data and partly due to poor maintenance and governance problems during Libya's decade-long conflict.
Libya has been divided since 2014 between rival power centres in the east and west, following the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed revolution.
