Source Le Monde:
Will France be the refuge in Europe for Syrian war criminals? Will we see executioners and victims cross paths in the streets of Paris without the latter being able to initiate any prosecution whatsoever against those who massacred their families? In any case, this is the meaning of the judgment handed down by the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation on November 24. In essence, the judges ruled that the French courts were incompetent to prosecute Syrians living in France for crimes against humanity committed in their country of origin, on the grounds that Syrian law does not specifically sanction crimes against it. 'humanity.
This judgment concerns the first case of indictment in France in the name of universal jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity. It targeted a Syrian named Abdulhamid C., arrested in the Paris region and indicted in February 2019 for "complicity in crimes against humanity". A member of State Security, he was arrested as part of a joint investigation in France and Germany into what has been called the "Caesar case". In 2013, a former Syrian military police photographer, known by the pseudonym "Caesar," fled his country with 55,000 photographs of bodies tortured, starved and tortured in the prisons of the Assad regime.
An investigation was opened in France in 2015 after the transmission of the "Caesar file" by the then foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, to the crimes against humanity pole of the Paris judicial tribunal. In Germany, it led to the trial of two former Syrian military intelligence agents, also known as "branch 215" or "branch Al-Khatib", in the court of Koblenz: the first is an officer, Anwar Raslan, the second, Eyad Al-Gharib, a subordinate. Al-Gharib was found guilty of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Raslan awaits judgment in the next few days.
In France, on the other hand, justice is trampling. The indictment of Abdulhamid C., confirmed by the investigating chamber in January, was therefore overturned by the judgment of the judges of cassation. The 32-year-old man, who was on bail after a year in detention, is now fully free. Entered France illegally in 2015, he obtained refugee status in 2018. He is suspected of having, on behalf of State Security, identified and arrested demonstrators to send them to the detention centers of the " Al-Khatib branch ”.
How did we get here ? The Court of Cassation only interpreted in a narrow and restrictive manner the law of August 9, 2010 which transposes the Rome Statute, founding the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the notion of universal jurisdiction in French law. "This law contains four obstacles intended to limit the universal jurisdiction of French courts and to closely control its use," explains Clémence Bectarte, lawyer at the International Federation of Human Rights. This is the need for the "habitual residence" in France of the accused person (except in matters of torture and enforced disappearance), the monopoly of prosecution granted to the public prosecutor's office (which prevents the filing of a complaint with constitution of a party). civil), the need for the ICC to decline its jurisdiction (abandoned following an amendment adopted in 2019) and finally the need for “double criminality” (except in genocide).
This last notion requires, for a French judge to be competent, that the country of the person targeted by the prosecution is a signatory to the Rome Statute or that the charges against him exist in the law of his country. It is on this last notion that the magistrates of the Court of Cassation relied in rendering their judgment: they point out that, in Syrian law, the notion of "crimes against humanity" does not exist.
The investigating magistrates and the indictments chamber, well aware of this pitfall, insisted that rape, torture and arbitrary detention were punishable by Syrian law. But the Court of Cassation opted for a restrictive interpretation: "It considered that the presence of these offenses in Syrian law was not sufficient to establish the concept of a crime against humanity," said Clémence Bectarte. According to her, additional explicit elements are needed, including the notion of a concerted plan. "
Will France be the refuge in Europe for Syrian war criminals? Will we see executioners and victims cross paths in the streets of Paris without the latter being able to initiate any prosecution whatsoever against those who massacred their families? In any case, this is the meaning of the judgment handed down by the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation on November 24. In essence, the judges ruled that the French courts were incompetent to prosecute Syrians living in France for crimes against humanity committed in their country of origin, on the grounds that Syrian law does not specifically sanction crimes against it. 'humanity.
This judgment concerns the first case of indictment in France in the name of universal jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity. It targeted a Syrian named Abdulhamid C., arrested in the Paris region and indicted in February 2019 for "complicity in crimes against humanity". A member of State Security, he was arrested as part of a joint investigation in France and Germany into what has been called the "Caesar case". In 2013, a former Syrian military police photographer, known by the pseudonym "Caesar," fled his country with 55,000 photographs of bodies tortured, starved and tortured in the prisons of the Assad regime.
An investigation was opened in France in 2015 after the transmission of the "Caesar file" by the then foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, to the crimes against humanity pole of the Paris judicial tribunal. In Germany, it led to the trial of two former Syrian military intelligence agents, also known as "branch 215" or "branch Al-Khatib", in the court of Koblenz: the first is an officer, Anwar Raslan, the second, Eyad Al-Gharib, a subordinate. Al-Gharib was found guilty of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Raslan awaits judgment in the next few days.
In France, on the other hand, justice is trampling. The indictment of Abdulhamid C., confirmed by the investigating chamber in January, was therefore overturned by the judgment of the judges of cassation. The 32-year-old man, who was on bail after a year in detention, is now fully free. Entered France illegally in 2015, he obtained refugee status in 2018. He is suspected of having, on behalf of State Security, identified and arrested demonstrators to send them to the detention centers of the "Al-Khatib branch".
How did we get here? The Court of Cassation only interpreted in a narrow and restrictive manner the law of August 9, 2010 which transposes the Rome Statute, founding the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the notion of universal jurisdiction in French law. "This law contains four obstacles intended to limit the universal jurisdiction of French courts and to closely control its use," explains Clémence Bectarte, lawyer at the International Federation of Human Rights. This is the need for the "habitual residence" in France of the accused person (except in matters of torture and enforced disappearance), the monopoly of prosecution granted to the public prosecutor's office (which prevents the filing of a complaint with constitution of a party ). civil), the need for the ICC to decline its jurisdiction (abandoned following an amendment adopted in 2019) and finally the need for “double criminality” (except in genocide).
This last notion requires, for a French judge to be competent, that the country of the person targeted by the prosecution is a signatory to the Rome Statute or that the charges against him exist in the law of his country. It is on this last notion that the magistrates of the Court of Cassation relied in rendering their judgment: they point out that, in Syrian law, the notion of "crimes against humanity" does not exist.
The investigating magistrates and the indictments chamber, well aware of this pitfall, insisted that rape, torture and arbitrary detention were punishable by Syrian law. But the Court of Cassation opted for a restrictive interpretation: "It considered that the presence of these offenses in Syrian law was not sufficient to establish the concept of a crime against humanity," said Clémence Bectarte. According to her, additional explicit elements are needed, including the notion of a concerted plan. "
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