2023-05-23 09:37:46
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said today, Tuesday, that her country supports the trial of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite Damascus’ restoration of its seat in the Arab League and Assad’s participation in the Arab summit held last Friday in Saudi Arabia.
“Fighting crimes and impunity is part of the values of French diplomacy,” said the French minister, in response to a journalist’s question regarding whether she supports the trial of the Syrian president.
“We must remember who Bashar al-Assad is, he is a leader who has been the enemy of his people for more than 10 years,” Minister Colonna said, adding, “We must remember that hundreds of thousands of people died, and chemical weapons were used.”
The French Foreign Minister ruled out any lifting of European sanctions once morest the Bashar al-Assad regime, or even a change in France’s position towards the Syrian president.
“obligations required”
“As long as he has not changed, and has not made commitments to proceed with reconciliation and the fight once morest terrorism and drugs (…) and does not respect his commitments, there is no reason to change the attitude towards him,” Minister Colonna said.
Since the start of the revolution in Syria in 2011, the Syrian regime has been accused of several “crimes once morest humanity” and practices that violate human rights, such as torture, rape, sexual assaults, extrajudicial executions, and chemical attacks.
Lawsuits and investigations in several countries – especially in Europe – have targeted senior officials in the Bashar al-Assad regime.
However, countries allied to the Assad regime, particularly Russia and China, opposed the United Nations attempts to try the Syrian regime in the International Criminal Court. In 2016, the United Nations established an “international, impartial and independent mechanism” whose aim is to assist, investigate and prosecute persons responsible for the commission of the “most serious crimes” in Syria.
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