The French Court of Cassation, the highest judicial authority in France, issued a decision today, July 25, confirming the personal immunity of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The ruling effectively nullifies the arrest warrant issued against Assad in connection with chemical weapons attacks in Douma and Eastern Ghouta in 2013.
The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), one of the organizations involved in developing the case, expressed disappointment over the court’s ruling, calling it “disheartening” in a statement published on its Facebook page.
Christophe Soulard, President of the Court of Cassation, stated that 19 judges rejected the motion to lift Assad’s immunity, a move that could have paved the way for his trial in absentia in France over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013, according to the Associated Press.
Soulard added, “Under current international law, crimes against humanity and war crimes do not constitute exceptions to the principle of judicial immunity for foreign heads of state during their time in office.”
Jalnar Ahmad, Director of the Syrian Archive program, told Enab Baladi that the arrest warrant issued in December 2021 was challenged because Assad still held presidential immunity at that time.
Ahmad explained that the court indicated that the investigation could still proceed and that new arrest warrants could be issued now that Assad is no longer Syria’s president and no longer benefits from personal immunity.
She expressed regret over the decision, calling it a “setback to accountability efforts under the pretext of personal immunity for heads of state,” but emphasized, “This is not the end of the road—documentation, case building, and the pursuit of justice will continue through every possible channel.”
How the Arrest Warrant for al-Assad Was Issued
In March 2021, survivors and NGOs filed a criminal complaint in France urging authorities to investigate the sarin gas attacks on Adra, Douma, and Eastern Ghouta in 2013, classifying them as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
After the complaint was filed and civil parties joined the case, an official investigation was opened in April 2021, followed by the appointment of two investigating judges.
Syrian rights groups—including Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), the Syrian Archive, and the Open Society Justice Initiative—collected dozens of testimonies from survivors, witnesses, and experts, along with hundreds of documentary pieces of evidence.
Based on the scale and detail of the evidence, the investigating judges concluded that there was serious and corroborated evidence suggesting that the following individuals were involved in planning and executing the chemical attacks and bear individual criminal responsibility:
Bashar al-Assad – then-President of the Syrian Arab Republic
Maher al-Assad – de facto commander of the Syrian Army’s 4th Armored Division
Brigadier General Ghassan Abbas – then-director of Branch 450 at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center
Major General Bassam al-Hassan – strategic affairs adviser to the president and liaison officer between the Presidential Palace and the Scientific Studies and Research Center
The judges deemed that the appropriate response to the victims’ complaint and the presented evidence was to issue international arrest warrants against the identified individuals for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“In the French judicial system, an arrest warrant is a legal directive ordering law enforcement to locate, detain, and bring the person before an investigating judge. These warrants were published both at the European and international levels via Interpol and Europol.”
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
Following the issuance of these warrants in Paris on December 23, 2023, the French National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet national antiterroriste, PNAT))appealed and referred the case to the Investigation Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, requesting the cancellation of the arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad.
French Court Annuls Arrest Warrant Against Bashar al-Assad Enab Baladi.
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