French lawyers ask highest court to validate Syria’s Assad arrest warrant
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – French prosecutors requested on Tuesday the highest court in France to determine whether the international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is valid.
A statement from the prosecutor’s office said they filed an appeal in the Court of Cassation, believing it is “necessary from a legal point of view” that the highest court review the issue of personal immunity for a serving head of state concerning allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Paris appeals court upheld on June 26 an international arrest warrant for al-Assad over complicity in war crimes during the Syrian conflict.
The warrant issued by French judges in November 2023 refers to charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes.
Warrants were also issued for al-Assad’s brother Maher, commander of the Fourth Armored Division, and two Syrian generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan, for alleged complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This came following a French investigation into chemical attacks in Douma and Eastern Ghouta in Rif Dimashq Governorate in August 2013, that resulted in the killing of more than a thousand people, according to reports.
The lawyers representing the victims said the court ruling marked the first instance where a national court acknowledged that the personal immunity of a current head of state is not absolute.
Jeanne Sulzer and Clemence Witt, the lawyers at the Paris Bar, stated to The Associated Press, “The challenge at France’s supreme court by the Public Prosecutor’s Office threatens once more the victims’ relentless efforts to see Bashar Assad finally tried before an independent court.”