Cours de Cass has declared an invalid warrant under international law.
The judge ruled there were no exceptions, but their decision said it allowed a new arrest warrant to be issued now that Assad is no longer the head of state. Since December 2024, Assad has lived in exile in Russia after the HTS rebels ruled Syria.
Mariana Pena, a senior lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), said the ruling was a “missed opportunity” for the court to make an exception to waive immunity for heads of state accused of the most serious crime, but added a campaign to guide Assad to justice.
A French court issued an international arrest warrant in November 2023 in response to two chemical weapons attacks in Syria. First, in August 2013, the banned gassarin is believed to have killed more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, in the Gouta district of eastern Damascus. Second, in April 2018, 450 people were injured in the towns of Adra and Douma.
The lawsuit that led to an arrest warrant was brought by civil parties, including the survivors of the attack, the Syrian Centre for Media and Expression, and Osuji.
That cancellation was initially sought by the French anti-terrorist agency, based on the basis of the head of state.
At the appeal hearing, Osuji argued that immunity does not apply when a leader commits a serious crime against his population.
France has previously issued international arrest warrants for three other Syrian officials, including his brother Maha al-Assad on the accomplices of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Cass of the Course did not control these warrants, but it is still in effect.
rhm/