French court confirms arrest warrant for Assad on chemical weapons charges

PARIS (Reuters) – An arrest warrant issued against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using banned chemical weapons against civilians was upheld by a Paris court on Wednesday, one of the lawyers who filed the suit said. initial complaint.

The arrest warrant issued by French judges in November 2023 refers to charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes, following a French investigation into chemical attacks in Douma and the district in Eastern Ghouta in August 2013, attacks which left more than 1,000 people dead. .

Prosecutors, who would be responsible for asking police to execute the arrest warrant, had challenged its validity, arguing that as a sitting head of state, Assad was immune from trial and prosecution in France.

“Today is a very special day and it is a historic victory, not only for the Syrian victims, but for all victims around the world,” said Mazen Darwish, director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of the press.

“The Court's decision confirms what we have always said: when the issue concerns crimes against humanity, war crimes and the use of chemical weapons, immunity should never be invoked.”

Assad's government has denied using chemical weapons against its opponents in the civil war that erupted in March 2011. Syrian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday's appeals court ruling.

Arrest warrants issued against sitting heads of state are rare because they generally enjoy immunity from prosecution.

However, international law provides for exceptions to this immunity when a head of state is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. France is one of the countries that allows complaints for crimes against humanity to be filed before its courts.

“This decision makes clear that international rules on immunity cannot be synonymous with impunity, especially for the most serious international crimes,” said Steve Kostas, senior legal officer at the Open Society Justice initiative, in response. to the verdict.

(Reporting by Maya Gebelly in Beirut and Dominique Vidalon in Paris; editing by Alison Williams)