A Paris court docket has charged Syria’s deposed ruler with complicity in battle crimes in reference to a lethal assault on civilians in 2017.
French judges have reportedly issued a brand new arrest warrant in opposition to deposed Syrian chief Bashar al-Assad for alleged complicity in battle crimes linked to a barrel bomb assault on civilians in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian man.
A authorized supply conversant in the case informed French media that the Paris Tribunal’s particular unit for crimes in opposition to humanity and battle crimes issued the warrant this week as a part of an investigation into the loss of life of Salah Abou Nabout , killed when his home was hit. throughout a bombing on the town of Daraa, in southern Syria, on June 7, 2017.
Al-Assad, who was deposed final month by a lightning insurgent offensive and is now in exile in Russia, is held answerable for the assault in his tenure as “commander in chief of the armed forces”, the supply mentioned.
French judges started investigating Nabout’s loss of life in 2018 and that 12 months issued arrest warrants for six senior Syrian military officers suspected of following al-Assad’s orders and being complicit in battle crimes linked to the bombings.
Omar Abou Nabout, the sufferer’s son, expressed the hope that “a trial will happen and that the culprits shall be arrested and judged, wherever they’re”.
“This case represents the fruits of an extended combat for justice, which my household and I’ve believed in for the reason that starting,” he mentioned in an announcement.
This is the second arrest warrant issued in opposition to al-Assad by French judges, who had filed a warrant in opposition to the ousted president in November 2023 over chemical assaults that killed greater than 1,000 civilians within the metropolis of Douma and the encircling japanese Ghouta area in 2013.
The Assad regime has repeatedly denied utilizing chemical weapons and barrel bombs and insisted it has not carried out indiscriminate assaults on civilians through the practically 14-year civil battle.
Last week, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, traveled to Damascus to satisfy with Syria’s de facto chief, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Khan, invited to Syria by the transitional authorities, mentioned the court docket desires to help the Syrian authorities of their efforts “in direction of accountability for alleged crimes dedicated within the nation.”
In latest years, there have been a number of authorized makes an attempt in European international locations – together with France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands – to strive Syrian state officers and anti-government militants for suspected battle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.
