Syria: in Paris, NGOs file a complaint against Damascus for "crimes against humanity"
Three NGOs have filed a complaint against Damascus, especially after the sarin attack on the rebel stronghold of Ghouta.
Here, a man is holding the body of a child there on August 21, 2013. REUTERS - Bassam Khabieh
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A complaint against the Syrian regime was filed Tuesday, March 2 at the Paris judicial tribunal for "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes", announced the three NGOs at the origin of the complaint.
This concerns the chemical attacks against the population, in 2013, where 1,400 people were dead.
Publicity
Read more
The images of women and children trapped in their sleep, dead in sarin gas attacks, had scandalized the world.
It was in August 2013 in Syria
, the regime of Bashar al-Assad had been singled out.
But faced with
the inability of Western countries to react
, three NGOs mobilized and filed a complaint eight years later for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
"
It was not easy, we are talking about a judicial process
," says Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for the Media and Freedom of Expression, joined by
Murielle Paradon
of the international service of RFI.
We had to work a lot to collect evidence, words from victims and witnesses.
The chain of command had to be established to find responsibility for these attacks.
"
The NGOs decided to file a complaint with
the Paris judicial court
, invoking extraterritorial jurisdiction.
However, it is not
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
who is directly targeted.
“
These kind of courts cannot prosecute a president of another country
,” explains Mazen Darwish.
So we targeted Maher al-Assad, Bashar's brother.
We believe it was the unit he commanded that carried out these attacks.
"
The NGOs hope that their complaint will succeed, to try those responsible, but also to prevent further attacks.
According to them, Syria still has a large arsenal of chemical weapons.
►
To read also
:
Syria: Bashar al-Assad, twenty years of terror
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Syria
International justice
Bashar al-Assad
France
Justice
Human rights
On the same subject
Analysis
Syria: Bashar al-Assad, twenty years of terror
Syria: US military strikes pro-Iranian militias
International report
Syria: State sells land of opponents who fled the regime