A wanted notice against Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the current Syrian president, was launched a year ago by Swiss justice. The 85-year-old man is suspected of war crimes committed in 1982, according to a judgment of the Federal Criminal Court made public only on Wednesday.
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The revelation is late. Swiss justice launched last year a wanted notice against Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the current Syrian president, for war crimes committed in 1982, according to a judgment of the Federal Criminal Court (TPF) made public only Wednesday August 16th.
The judgment was published a year after the Federal Criminal Court asked the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) to launch the wanted notice.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPC) wanted to keep it a secret so that Rifaat al-Assad, 85, could not make arrangements to evade the wanted notice.
The federal prosecutor’s office had already requested the OFJ in 2021 but the latter had opposed the dissemination of the wanted notice, arguing that Switzerland was not competent to prosecute the Syrian because he is not a citizen. Swiss, that he was not staying in the country and that there was no residence either. The FOJ also pointed out that there is no Swiss among the victims of the Hama massacre in Syria in 1982, which motivates the wanted notice.
But the Federal Criminal Court does not share this opinion, deeming the request legitimate on the grounds that the prosecution opened its investigation in 2013 while Rifaat al-Assad was staying in a Geneva hotel.
This presence is sufficient, according to the TPF, to establish Switzerland’s jurisdiction in the prosecution of war crimes. It also makes it possible to launch an international search warrant, which is part of the means necessary to carry out a criminal investigation.
However, this opinion is likely to remain a dead letter. The younger brother of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad returned to Syria in 2021 after 37 years in exile.
Numerous atrocities and massacres
On September 13, 2013, the Trial International organization filed a complaint against Rifaat al-Assad for war crimes committed in February 1982 during the Muslim Brotherhood insurrection in Hama.
Rifaat al-Assad led the Defense Brigades. This elite unit is accused of having committed numerous atrocities and massacres during the recapture of the city.
The riots and military operations left between 10,000 and 40,000 dead, according to sources. It is good that “the prosecuting authorities have finally decided to request the extradition of Rifaat al-Assad, even if we can obviously regret that it was necessary to wait for the latter’s return to Syria to demand that he appears before the Swiss courts”, notes Benoit Meystre, legal adviser to Trial International.
With AFP
Source: France 24
