The Paris Court of Appeal validated on Wednesday the arrest warrant targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The leader is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity.
A “historic” decision, according to the civil parties, but the consequences of which are still unclear.
Will Bashar al-Assad be judged one day in France? The Paris Court of Appeal in any case opens the way to a trial. The court validated this Wednesday the arrest warrant targeting the Syrian president, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity. At issue: the deadly chemical attacks of August 2013, attributed to his regime. Despite this judicial green light, it is difficult to know whether justice will be able to take charge of these crimes. And this for many reasons.
First of all, because an appeal to the Court of Cassation is possible within five days. However, it turns out that the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) requested the cancellation of the mandate on the grounds of the personal immunity of the presidents in office. Concretely, the Pnat maintained that “unanimously, it is estimated until now“that the exceptions to the personal immunity of heads of state in office are”reserved for the sole benefit of international jurisdictions“, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), and not courts of foreign countries. “Without calling into question the existence of elements demonstrating the involvement of Bashar al-Assad in the chemical attacks committed in August 2013“, the Pnat wanted”see this issue decided by a higher court.”
“There is little chance that Bashar al-Assad will come to European territory”
If there is no appeal, can a trial take place? Yes. A trial, even in the absence of Bashar al-Assad – and the three other people concerned by a mandate who are his brother, Maher and two generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan – could at this stage take place in the next years in Paris. According to the lawyers of the civil parties, the member states of the European Union and any country recognizing this mandate could arrest Bashar al-Assad if he one day traveled to their soil.
What about a possible arrest of the main person concerned? By the own admission of Clémence Bectarte, Jeanne Sulzer and Clémence Witt, the lawyers for the civil parties, this seems difficult to envisage to this day. “In reality, there is little chance that Bashar al-Assad will come to European territory. This is not a legal issue, but a question of implementation.“, they explained to RFI.
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While awaiting the legal consequences of this decision, the lawyers of the civil parties are enjoying this first success. “This is the first time that a national court has recognized that the personal immunity of a serving head of state is not absolute. explained the lawyers this Wednesday evening. “This is a victory marked by the courage and perseverance of the French and Syrian victims (…), thus opening the way to a possible trial against Bashar al-Assad in France, which constitutes an immense step forward in the fight against impunity“, they added in a statement sent to AFP at the end of the deliberations, held behind closed doors.
The case began in 2021, after a complaint. For three years, investigating judges from the crimes against humanity unit of the Paris judicial court have been investigating the chain of command which led to the attacks perpetrated against civilians on the night of August 4 to 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma (450 wounded) then on August 21 in eastern Ghouta, where more than a thousand people, according to American intelligence, were killed by sarin gas. The investigations, entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH), are based, among other things, on photos, videos or maps, submitted by the civil parties in particular, and testimonies from survivors. and defectors from military regiments.
