In France, court cancels Bashar al-Assad's arrest warrant

France's Court of Cassation on Friday overturned a French arrest warrant for former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This was reported by Le Monde, writes UNN.

Details

It is noted that, according to the decision of the Court of Cassation, there are no exceptions to presidential immunity - even in cases of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

At the same time, the head of the court, Christophe Soulard, emphasized that, since Assad is no longer president, "new arrest warrants could have been or may be issued against him," and therefore the investigation of the case can continue.

In this case, Assad is being prosecuted as an accomplice to war crimes and crimes against humanity, although the Syrian authorities at the time denied their involvement and blamed the attacks on rebels.

Human rights activists hoped that the court would invalidate the immunity due to the gravity of the charges, which would set an important precedent in international law for prosecuting those suspected of war crimes.

Addition

A panel of French investigative judges issued an arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad in November 2023 for his alleged role in the chain of command during a sarin attack. According to US intelligence, this led to the deaths of over 1,000 people on August 4 and 5, 2013, in Adra and Douma near Damascus.

Also in January 2025, French investigative judges issued a new arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad for war crimes. The case concerns the death of a Franco-Syrian citizen during a bombing in 2017.