Tarek Bitar (lead investigating judge, Beirut port-blast probe) — statements to media/AP, Jan 2023 (per The961): refusing to step down despite the top prosecutor charging him and releasing suspects — "I will continue with the case and I will not leave it unless they remove me completely," undeterred "even if it is going to cost me my life." Judicial independence vs the political class.

I will continue with the case and I will not leave it unless they remove me completely.

…even if it is going to cost me my life.

[Source is English (The961, a Lebanese outlet, reporting his statements — including to the Associated Press — in January 2023; as published in English, possibly translated from his Arabic/French); tier-2, confirmed verbatim against the fetched page. The second quote is a FRAGMENT (his AP statement that he would not be deterred "even if it is going to cost me my life"), signalled with a leading ellipsis. published_date left NULL: the statements date to late January 2023 (when he rejected the top prosecutor's charges and refused to step down) but the exact date is not established here — not fabricated.] Declared position of Judge Tarek Bitar — the lead investigator into the 4 August 2020 BEIRUT PORT EXPLOSION (which killed 200+ and devastated the capital), and the figure who came to embody JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE and the fight against IMPUNITY in Lebanon. For pursuing senior politicians and security officials, he faced a relentless campaign of lawsuits, removal attempts and smears (notably from Hezbollah and its allies) that froze his probe for 13 months; in January 2023 Lebanon's top prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat charged Bitar and released suspects in an effort to derail the case. Bitar refused to yield — turning the accusation back on the prosecutor (saying Oueidat "should come and defend himself") and vowing: "I will continue with the case and I will not leave it unless they remove me completely," adding that he would not be deterred "even if it is going to cost me my life." This is the JUDICIAL-INDEPENDENCE / RULE-OF-LAW / ANTI-IMPUNITY pole — an incorruptible judge insisting on accountability for the victims against an entrenched political class that shields itself from justice — a distinct institutional dimension absent elsewhere in the dataset, and the counter-pole to the sectarian elite's impunity (cf. Riad Salameh's self-exculpation). [Axes: governance / accountability (judicial independence; rule of law; no impunity for officials; truth for victims), regime-stance (against the entrenched sectarian political class and its obstruction of justice), civil-liberties / justice (due process; resisting political interference in the judiciary).]