France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad
But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue.
Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account.
They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity.
"This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law," said Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case.
French authorities
issued the warrant against Assad
in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus.
Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case. Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels.
Universal jurisdiction
The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries.
An investigation -- based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage -- led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals.
Advertisement
Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state.
The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed.
But in December, Assad's circumstances changed.
He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led fighters seized power from him.
In January, French investigating magistrates issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian.
'Great victory'
The Court of Cassation said Assad's so called "personal immunity", granted because of his office, meant he could not be targeted by arrest warrants until his ouster.
But it ruled that "functional immunity", which is granted to people who perform certain functions of state, could be lifted in the case of accusations of severe crimes.
Thus it upheld the French judiciary's indictment in another case against ex-governor of the Central Bank of Syria and former finance minister, Adib Mayaleh.
Advertisement
He has been accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over alleged funding of the Assad government during Syria's civil war.
Mayaleh obtained French nationality in 1993, and goes by the name Andre Mayard on his French passport.
Darwish, the Syrian lawyer, said that part of the court's ruling was however a "great victory".
"It establishes the principle that no agent of a foreign state, regardless of the position they hold, can invoke their immunity when international crimes are at stake," he said.
Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes since its eruption in 2011 with the then-government's brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests.
Assad's fall on December 8, 2024 ended his family's five-decade rule.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
4 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump gambles with reindustrializing the US
Attracting foreign investment to reindustrialize the US has been the main objective of Donald Trump's tariff policy. "Remember the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones? That kind of thing is going to come to America," promised US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on April 6, just days after Trump announced so-called "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2. The agreement unveiled on Sunday, July 27, with the European Union includes an additional $600 billion in investments to be made in the US. A few days earlier, Japan committed to invest $550 billion in the US as part of its agreement signed with Washington. These commitments, however, remain vague – both in terms of the time frame and the sectors involved. In recent weeks, several major European groups have announced plans to build factories in the US, raising concerns over reduced activities in Europe and even an increase in offshoring to the US. On July 24, Bernard Arnault, the founder and CEO of the luxury group LVMH, announced that Louis Vuitton would open a fourth manufacturing site across the Atlantic. "For our American customers, buying a Louis Vuitton product 'made in USA' poses (…) no problem at all," Arnault argued in the French newspaper Le Figaro on July 24.
Local France
6 hours ago
- Local France
What's in store if your child is doing France's Journée de Défense et de Citoyenneté this year
The Journée de Défense et de Citoyenneté (JDC) is a requirement for all young French citizens, even if they live outside France, and is a prerequisite for sitting the baccalauréat, applying for certain public jobs, or obtaining a driving licence. The day itself, formerly known as the Journée d'Appel de Préparation à la Défense (Defense Preparation Day, or JAPD), was established in 1997 by President Jacques Chirac and replaced compulsory military service. Non-French citizens who are resident of France as well as those with dual nationality (who can opt out depending on their nationality) are not yet obliged to take part in these days, but they are mandatory from September for all French nationals – and some foreign residents – aged 16 to 25 as part of government efforts to link youth engagement to military preparedness. Advertisement Invitations to attend a JDC are sent out once a compulsory citizen registration is completed. In 2024, 20,000 JDCs were organised with around 40 young people taking part in each session. From September 2025, they will undergo several key changes, and take on a greater military direction – and will feature greater emphasis on military and reserve recruitment, the Ministry for the Armed Forces confirmed. By 2026, the goal is to organise 8,500 new-generation JDCs with 100 young people per session, accompanied by 10 supervisors from defense units and sites. French government information website Service Publique included a breakdown of a typical JDC day that will be rolled out from September. They will last seven hours, starting at 8.30am and ending at 3.30pm, and – after a flag-raising ceremony and the singing of La Marseillaise, followed by the reading of the Charte des droits et devoirs du citoyen français (charter of rights and responsibilities of French citizens) will feature role-play and aptitude workshops, a laser-target shooting simulation, and a careers forum with military officials and officers from the National Gendarmerie, while meals will be served in the form of combat rations. The armed services currently aim to increase the number of reservists from 47,000 to 80,000 by 2030.
LeMonde
7 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trial ordered for deadly 1982 attack on Paris Jewish restaurant
There will be six defendants, four of whom will be tried in absentia. On Thursday, July 31, the investigating judge ordered a trial for the six individuals before a specially constituted criminal court. They are each accused of participating in the antisemitic attack on Rue des Rosiers in Paris, on August 9, 1982, leaving six dead in and in front of a Jewish restaurant. The trial has not yet been scheduled and will be held in the presence of only two of the defendants: Walid Abou Zayed, a 66-year-old Norwegian of Palestinian origin who is thought to be one of the gunmen and has been held in France since 2020, and Hazza Taha, who is suspected of having hiden weapons and is currently under conditional release. Hicham Harb (real name Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra), Nizar Tawfiq Hamada, Amjad Atta (real name Souhair Al-Abassi), and Nabil Othmane are the four other defendants. The first two are living in the West Bank, the others in Jordan and Kuwait, respectively. The authorities in these countries and territories have either refused to extradite them or have not responded to the French international arrest warrants. All four remain wanted.
