justice validates the French arrest warrant targeting President Bashar al-Assad

Investigating judges issued four arrest warrants against Syrian leaders in November 2023, as part of an investigation for complicity in crimes against humanity.

The Paris Court of Appeal validated, Wednesday June 26, the arrest warrant issued by investigating judges in 2023 against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity for chemical attacks murders in 2013, attributed to the regime. By this decision, rendered behind closed doors and reported by lawyers for victims and NGOs, the investigating chamber thus rejected the request of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat), which requested the cancellation of the warrant on the grounds of personal immunity of presidents in office.

The Pnat maintained that the exceptions to the personal immunity of heads of state in office are “reserved for the sole benefit of international jurisdictions”such as the International Criminal Court, and not courts of foreign countries. “Without calling into question the existence of elements demonstrating the involvement of Bashar al-Assad in the chemical attacks committed in August 2013”the Pnat therefore wanted “see this question decided” by a court of appeal. The anti-terrorism prosecution can now file an appeal in the coming days before the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the French judicial system.

Lawyers for victims and NGOs welcomed a ruling on Wednesday “historical”. “This is the first time that a national court has recognized that the personal immunity of a serving head of state is not absolute”reported Clémence Witt, Jeanne Sulzer and Clémence Bectarte to franceinfo. “This is a victory marked by the courage and perseverance of the French and Syrian victims of chemical attacks in Syria, thus paving the way for a possible trial against Bashar al-Assad in France, which constitutes an immense step forward in the fight against impunity.”

Since 2021, seized by a complaint, investigating judges have been investigating the chain of command leading to the attacks perpetrated on the night of August 4 to 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma (450 injured) and on August 21, 2013 in Eastern Ghouta , where more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, were killed by sarin gas.

The investigations led to the issuance, in mid-November, of four arrest warrants for the alleged planning of these attacks. They are targeting Bashar al-Assad, his brother, Maher, head of an elite unit of the Syrian army, as well as two generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan.