PARIS — The Paris appeals court ruled on Wednesday that an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar Assad issued by France for alleged complicity in war crimes during Syria's civil war is valid and remains in place, lawyers said.
Jeanne Sulzer and Clemence Witt, lawyers who represented the plaintiffs and non-governmental organizations who filed the complaint against the Syrian president in France, hailed the decision as a historic judgment and ''a giant step forward in the fight against impunity.''
In May, French anti-terrorism prosecutors asked the Paris appeals court to rule on lifting the arrest warrant for Assad, saying he has absolute immunity as a serving head of state.
''It's the first time that a national court has recognized that the personal immunity of a serving head of state is not absolute,'' the lawyers told The Associated Press.
French judicial authorities issued international arrest warrants last November for Assad; his brother Maher Assad, the commander of the 4th Armored Division; and two Syrian generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan, for alleged complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity. They include a 2013 chemical attack on then opposition-held Damascus suburbs.
Victims of the attack welcomed France's decision to issue arrest warrants as a reminder of the horrors of Syria's civil war.
The four individuals named in the arrest warrants can be arrested and brought to France for questioning while the investigation into the 2013 attacks in Eastern Ghouta and Douma continues, the lawyers said. While President Assad is unlikely to face trial in France, international warrants for a serving world leader are very rare and send a strong message about Assad's leadership at a time when some countries have welcomed him back into the diplomatic fold.
More than 1,000 people were killed and thousands were injured in the August 2013 attacks on Douma and Eastern Ghouta.