Overview
- Fourteen defendants appeared at Aleppo’s Palace of Justice, split between Assad supporters and members of the new security forces.
- Judge Zakaria Bakkar declared the court sovereign and independent before adjourning to next hearings set for Dec. 18 and Dec. 25.
- The indictment lists sedition, incitement to civil war, premeditated murder, attacks on law enforcement, looting and vandalism among the charges.
- Official probes diverge on scope, with a government committee referring 563 suspects and a national commission identifying 298, while tallying about 1,426 deaths, mostly civilians.
- A United Nations investigation found widespread and systematic targeting of civilians by government-aligned factions, intensifying scrutiny of the trials as the leadership seeks sanctions relief.