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Justice in Syria

Clear and analytic news

Since the fall of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the issue of justice in Syria has been in the world news headlines. The International Criminal Court (ICC) does not have jurisdiction to deal with mass crimes perpetrated by the ousted regime, while since 2019, European courts have taken the lead under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”. The first historic trial, that of Anwar Raslan in Germany, was followed by others, notably in the Netherlands, and by lawsuits launched against around sixty alleged perpetrators in Sweden, Belgium, Austria or France. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued “provisional measures” against the practice of torture in Syria. A UN mechanism has been tasked with documenting these crimes. Today, European prosecutors who are working on these cases, Syrian lawyers and all the organisations that have been mobilised for years are at the forefront of this fight for justice , followed very closely by Justice Info.

International justice for Bashar al-Assad's crimes in Syria. Photo: Broken portrait of Bashar al-Assad next to documents.

“We will follow them wherever they will go”

Renowned Syrian lawyer Anwar al-Bunni and his colleagues at the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research have been leading figures in Syrian efforts for justice. In Europe, they have initiated, with other organizations, universal jurisdiction proceedings against about sixty people allegedly responsible for crimes committed under Bashar al-Assad. After the latter’s fall, al-Bunni answers […]

By Franck Petit (Justice Info)

ICC & Syria - An aerial photo shows people gathering around Saydnaya prison in Syria.

Syria opens its prisons, ICC’s ASP closes its doors

Genocide of the Yazidis - Photo: in Iraq, Yazidi women hold up placards commemorating the invasion of their region by the Islamic State (EI) group in 2014.

Yazidi genocide trial to take place in France

“IS saw the Yazidis as objects, not people”

Tadamon massacre in Syria: a trial in Germany - Photo: a street destroyed in the Tadamon neighbourhood, south of Damascus (Syria).

The 2013 Tadamon massacre looms over Germany’s latest Syria trial

Arrest warrant issued by the French courts against Bashar Al-Assad (Syrian President), in connection with the 2013 chemical attacks in Syria. Photo: Poster in a Syrian street showing Al-Assad with a gas mask over his face.

Setback for Bashar al-Assad before the French courts

Justice for Syria and the International court of Justice (ICJ) - Photo: a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the streets of Damascus.

Why isn’t the ICJ bolder on Syria?

Syrian trial in Paris (France) - Obeida Dabbagh speaks to the press following the verdict of three high-ranking Syrian security officials found guilty, in their absence, of crimes against humanity (torture) committed against his brother and nephew.

Syrian trial: what to learn from this first default judgment

Syrian trial in France. Photo: Bashar al-Assad poster on a street in Damascus, Syria.

In France, a first Syrian trial “by default”

The Syrian lawyer Mazen Darwish talks to the media in Koblenz, Germany.

Darwish: collecting evidence, to avoid revenge and another war in Syria

In-depth interview with Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria. Image: drawing of Marchi-Uhel.

Catherine Marchi-Uhel: “The results of the Syria Mechanism are becoming more visible”

Translation of universal jurisdiction trials - Photo: instant translation equipment with microphone and headphones, in an insulated glass booth.

Syrian trials translated into Arabic: the Netherlands' conclusive test

Syrians protest outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague (Netherlands).

Syria: a further step against mass crimes?

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his brother Maher are being prosecuted in France for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Assad brothers charged with complicity in crimes against humanity

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), at the request of the Netherlands and Canada, examines systematic torture in Syria

The law and the spectacle of the law

Algeria - General Khaled Nezzar is accused in Switzerland of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Assad and Nezzar: Swiss justice finally moving, but not so convincingly

Missing persons in Syria -

Missing persons in Syria: why create a new UN body?

Crimes against Yazidis - Kurds demonstrate in the Netherlands in support of the Yezidis and Christians of Iraq, victims of Islamic State violence.

Netherlands to open first trial on crimes against Yazidis

Universal jurisdiction in France - Cour de cassation

France: A relief for universal jurisdiction