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France’s Top Court Weighs Stripping Assad’s Immunity Over Chemical Attacks

A decision in Paris could pave the way for an in absentia trial under universal jurisdiction with implications for future prosecutions of alleged war criminals.

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FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2010 file photo, then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addresses reporters at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)
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France had issued a warrant against Bashar al-Assad in 2023 over his alleged role for sarin gas attacks that killed more than 1,000 people in Syria in August 2013

Overview

  • France’s Cour de Cassation is hearing an appeal Friday on whether to strip Bashar al-Assad of head-of-state immunity to allow a trial in absentia.
  • The case stems from arrest warrants issued in November 2023 accusing Assad of overseeing sarin gas use in Ghouta in 2013 and chemical attacks in Douma in 2018.
  • The high court’s prosecutor recommended upholding the warrants on the basis that France has not recognized Assad as Syria’s legitimate head of state since 2012.
  • Syrian activists and human rights lawyers have compiled eyewitness accounts, photographs and soil samples to link the former president directly to the attacks.
  • Any trial would occur without his presence while he remains exiled in Russia yet a ruling to lift immunity could establish a precedent for universal jurisdiction prosecutions.