French Public Prosecutor requests endorsement of arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad

PARIS – The French Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday requested the endorsement of an arrest warrant issued by investigating judges against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity, particularly for his direct involvement in chemical attacks carried out by his regime on August 21, 2013, targeting areas in Eastern Ghouta and Muadamiyat al-Sham. The attacks involved the use of sarin gas and resulted in the deaths of more than a thousand civilians. 

Prosecutor Rémi Heitz clarified that Bashar al-Assad has not been considered a legitimate president in the eyes of the French state since 2012, due to the mass crimes he committed in his country. This, according to the prosecution, justified excluding Assad from the diplomatic immunity usually granted to foreign leaders. 

Earlier, in June, the Paris Court of Appeal approved the international arrest warrant issued in November against Assad on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes. However, objections to the warrant followed quickly, as both the Anti-Terrorism Public Prosecutor’s Office and the General Prosecutor’s Office appealed the decision, citing the principle of state sovereignty and rejecting any foreign judicial interference in the affairs of sitting heads of state. 

It is worth noting that a group of civil society organizations had issued a statement emphasizing that immunities should not be used as a shield to escape accountability when state leaders commit heinous crimes, including crimes against their own people. They stressed that upholding the arrest warrant against Assad and rejecting the functional immunity claimed by the former governor of the Central Bank of Syria, Adib Mayalah, would send a strong message that no one is above the law regardless of their position or title when it comes to crimes that shake the conscience of humanity.