At a hearing in the eastern city of Benghazi on Wednesday, a Qaddafi-era judge in a Qaddafi-era military courtroom planned to hear evidence against 50 people accused of the Qaddafi-era crime of “treason against the revolution.”
But the judge postponed the hearing because the militia that has detained the defendants refused to bring them to court.
The case underlines how much power still lies with the hundreds of militias that fought Colonel Qaddafi’s forces during the eight-month rebellion, which ended when the dictator was captured and killed in October.
It also indicates how, one year after the start of the uprising, the Transitional National Council now governing Libya has made little progress in filling the void left by the collapse of the dictatorship.
The council has so far failed to extend its control over the militias. It has also not taken control over the scores of detention centers these groups use to hold people accused of links to the Qaddafi government. Human rights groups say these centers hold thousands of people, including some who have been tortured.
The leader of the council, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, acknowledged its shortcomings in an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
“After the liberation, the national council’s deficits surfaced,” he said. He added that the 72-member council was “very slow” in making decisions, largely because “everybody is afraid that if they speed up, financial corruption will take place.”
Wednesday’s proceedings were the second attempt at a hearing for about 50 men detained by a powerful Benghazi militia known as the Feb. 17 Martyrs. The men are accused of having links to Colonel Qaddafi’s government. The judge served under the colonel but defected to the rebels. Because the council has yet to write new laws, the defendants are being tried under the Qaddafi-era legal code.
The trial’s first session on Feb. 6 was postponed because the defendants did not have a lawyer. On Wednesday, their lawyer arrived, but the militia refused to bring the men in its custody to court, citing security reasons.
The defendants’ lawyer, Saleh Omran, said the militia had too much power.
“The brigade controls everything in this part of Libya,” Mr. Omran said. “If they wish, they can release prisoners or keep them as long as they want.”