Keystone-SDA
There are still 99 million Swiss francs from Syria in Swiss banks. This amount had been frozen after the start of the conflict, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) told Keystone-ATS on Wednesday.
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December 11, 2024 – 11:01
(Keystone-ATS) This amount was frozen following Berne’s resumption of EU sanctions decided in 2011 at the start of the conflict in Syria. As long as EU sanctions against Syria are in force, they can also be maintained in Switzerland, indicates Seco, confirming information published in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. According to him, the situation is being closely monitored, including within the EU.
No hunt for the millions of the Bashar al-Assad regime is taking shape in Switzerland, writes the newspaper, because financial relations between Bern and Damascus have been practically frozen since 2011 and Swiss banks had already largely withdrawn from business in the 2000s. flourishing with Syria.
Sanctions against Assad’s ministers
Three ministers from Bashar al-Assad’s government have also been on Switzerland’s sanctions list since Tuesday evening. Accused of being “co-responsible for the violent repression of the Syrian regime against the civilian population”, they are prohibited from entering the territory.
Last March, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPC) indicted Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was allegedly responsible for the massacre in the Syrian town of Hama in February 1982, during which between 10,000 and 40,000 people lost their lives.
Swiss
