Civil parties hope for a trial in absentia of the Syrian president “within a few years” in France

At a press conference on Thursday, the day after the Paris Court of Appeal’s decision to validate the French arrest warrant targeting the Syrian president, they considered that a new appeal by the public prosecutor would be “political”.

A decision to “historical significance”. During a press conference on Thursday June 27, the civil parties and their lawyers welcomed the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal to validate the arrest warrant against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,accused of complicity in crimes against humanity for two chemical attacks against Syrian civilians in August 2013, attributed to the regime. The rejection of the request of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat), which requested the annulment of the mandate on the grounds of the personal immunity of sitting presidents, notably opens the way to a trial in France.

“If, At the end of the investigation, the charges against Bashar al-Assad are sufficient, this arrest warrant will be worth indictment, which means that he could be tried in absentia by a French assize courtexplained Clémence Witt, lawyer for several victims and the four NGO civil parties, with her colleague Jeanne Sulzer. uA trial would very likely be held in France within a few years”she added.

An arrest of the Syrian president is also not excluded, even if he is “unlikely” that he travel to a European country, Syria having been under European sanctions since 2011. The French authorities could “solicit” the arrest of Bashar al-Assad in another state where he would go, under a “bilateral convention” or on behalf of “rules of international courtesy”specified Clémence Witt.

In its motivations, the Paris Court of Appeal considered that the Syrian head of state had “himself excluded from the benefit of personal immunity” incumbent presidents “in not not behaving like a head of state”added lawyer Jeanne Suzer, emphasizing that “the use of chemical weapons against its population does not constitute an act falling within its normal functions”. In its decision, relayed by the general prosecutor’s office on Thursday, the court in fact recalls that “the international crimes brought before the investigating judges cannot be considered as part of the official functions of a head of state”.

The public prosecutor’s office still has four days to refer the matter to the Court of Cassation and contest this decision. An appeal would send a “an absolutely disastrous signal for the victims, as was the request for nullity on the part of the Pnat, which is supposed to represent the prosecution and stand alongside the victims”, commented during the press conference Clémence Bectarte, who represents seven physical victims. Saccording to her, “the French executive, all governments combined (…), has always feared that this so-called universal justice exercised by French justice would be an obstacle to the diplomatic conduct of France”.

“If there is an appeal, for us, for the victims, for the Syrians, it will be motivated by political reasons, not legal”added Mazen Darwish, founder of Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, one of the four civil party NGOs in this case. And to hope that there will be no “intervention” of “executive power” in this unprecedented legal procedure.