PARIS: French judges have ordered senior officials of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria to stand trial for collusion in crimes against humanity, a first in France, according to court documents seen by AFP Tuesday.
The order, signed last Wednesday, says the officials, all senior advisers to Assad, are charged with complicity in crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
They are Ali Mamlouk, head of the National Security Bureau of the Ba’ath party, Jamil Hassan, former head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, another Air Force intelligence officer.
French prosecutors believe the trio, who are not expected to show up for the trial or have lawyers represent them, are responsible for the deaths of two French-Syrian nationals, Mazzen Dabbagh and his son Patrick, who were arrested in 2013.
France has issued international arrest warrants for the three.
A preliminary investigation into possible forced disappearances and acts of torture constituting crimes against humanity was launched in 2015 after the family of the two filed a complaint, which widened into a full-blown probe in 2016 and led to international arrest warrants two years later.
Mazzen Dabbagh, pedagogical adviser at the French school in Damascus, and Patrick Dabbagh, who was studying in the literature and humanities faculty at Damascus university, were arrested in November 2013 by officers identifying themselves as members of the Air Force intelligence services.
According to Mazzen Dabbagh’s brother-in-law Obeida Dabbagh, who was also arrested but released two days later, the two were taken to Mezzeh prison, believed to be the government’s main torture center.
They were not heard from again, and 2018 the government declared them dead, dating Patrick’s death to 2014 and his father’s to 2017.
According to witness statements collected by French investigators and the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, an NGO, they were beaten with iron bars on the soles of their feet, subjected to electric shocks and had their fingernails torn out.
The French investigating judges said it “seems sufficiently established” that they were subjected to torture “so intense that it killed them.”
Their house was confiscated and later rented to Hassan for around 30 euros ($32) per year, a fact that makes him an accomplice to war crimes, according to the judges.
Obeida Dabbagh welcomed the trial order, telling AFP it signalled to the Syrian government that “one day the impunity will end.”
The International Federation for Human Rights, an NGO, called the indictment “a historic decision.”
While this is the first time the French judiciary prosecutes Syrian officials for serious crimes, neighboring Germany has already brought similar cases to court.
In January of last year a German court sentenced a former Syrian colonel to life in jail for crimes against humanity in the first global trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria.
Anwar Raslan, 58, was found guilty of overseeing the murder of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at the Al-Khatib detention center in Damascus in 2011 and 2012.
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France to try Syria officials for crimes against humanity
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France to try Syria officials for crimes against humanity
- The order, signed last Wednesday, says the officials, all senior advisors to Assad, are charged with complicity in crimes against humanity, and war crimes
- France has issued international arrest warrants for the three
Ukraine hosts talks with security allies in Kyiv
KYIV: Ukraine is hosting security advisers for crunch talks on Saturday as Kyiv insists negotiations are zeroing in on a deal, while Russia claims a deadly New Year strike torpedoed the efforts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said around 15 countries would attend the talks, along with representatives from the European Union and NATO, with a US delegation joining via video link.
Leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing are expected to convene in France next week after Saturday’s talks.
The latest peace push comes after Zelensky announced in his New Year’s Eve address that the US-brokered plan was “90 percent” ready, but cautioned that important territorial issues remain.
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has hit its smaller neighbor with an almost daily barrage of missiles and drones that have killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions.
Kyiv has repeatedly said Russia is not interested in peace and is deliberately trying to sabotage diplomatic efforts in order to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Russia captured the most Ukrainian land last year since launching its all-out invasion in 2022, an AFP analysis showed.
Moscow has meanwhile accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist attack” and “deliberately torpedoing” a peaceful resolution after a strike on a hotel in Kherson killed 28 people celebrating the New Year.
Moscow warned of “consequences,” but Ukraine said the attack targeted a military gathering that was closed to civilians.
AFP was not able to verify either account.
- Concessions -
After US special envoy Steve Witkoff boasted about putting peace efforts back on track in the New Year, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing.
More than 150,000 people have been evacuated from front-line areas since June 1, according to Ukrainian Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba.
Underlining the risks for civilians, authorities in Kharkiv reported on Saturday morning that another body had been pulled from the rubble after an aerial barrage reduced multi-story buildings to smoldering heaps.
At least two people, including a three-year-old, were killed and another 19 people wounded, local officials said.
Under the current US-backed blueprint for ending the war, Ukraine would cede parts of the eastern Donbas region and agree not to join NATO.
Zelensky said last week that Ukraine has been able to wrest some concessions, notably removing the provision that land seized by Moscow’s army would be recognized as Russian.
The Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometers (2,160 square miles), or 0.94 percent, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, which works with the Critical Threats Project.
This includes areas that Kyiv and military analysts say are controlled by Russia, as well as those claimed by Moscow’s army.
That is more land than the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 60,000 square kilometers it took in the first year of its invasion.
Russia made its biggest advance in 2025 in November — 701 square kilometers — whereas the 244 square kilometers it gained in December was the smallest since March, the data showed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently told his citizens that the military intends to seize the rest of the Ukrainian land he has proclaimed as Russian if talks fail.
- New cabinet appointees -
Zelensky has shuffled his cabinet ahead of the January 6 summit in France.
He announced on Friday that he offered the defense ministry to his 34-year-old minister of digital transformation, Mikhailo Fedorov.
Without explaining his decision to replace Denys Shmygal, the Ukrainian leader said he had proposed the incumbent “head another area of government work that is no less important for our stability.”
Zelensky also recently named Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to head his presidential office.
Budanov will succeed Zelensky’s most important ally, Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
“At this time, Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations,” Zelensky said.
“Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.”
Budanov said he had accepted the nomination and would “continue to serve Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said around 15 countries would attend the talks, along with representatives from the European Union and NATO, with a US delegation joining via video link.
Leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing are expected to convene in France next week after Saturday’s talks.
The latest peace push comes after Zelensky announced in his New Year’s Eve address that the US-brokered plan was “90 percent” ready, but cautioned that important territorial issues remain.
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has hit its smaller neighbor with an almost daily barrage of missiles and drones that have killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions.
Kyiv has repeatedly said Russia is not interested in peace and is deliberately trying to sabotage diplomatic efforts in order to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Russia captured the most Ukrainian land last year since launching its all-out invasion in 2022, an AFP analysis showed.
Moscow has meanwhile accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist attack” and “deliberately torpedoing” a peaceful resolution after a strike on a hotel in Kherson killed 28 people celebrating the New Year.
Moscow warned of “consequences,” but Ukraine said the attack targeted a military gathering that was closed to civilians.
AFP was not able to verify either account.
- Concessions -
After US special envoy Steve Witkoff boasted about putting peace efforts back on track in the New Year, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing.
More than 150,000 people have been evacuated from front-line areas since June 1, according to Ukrainian Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba.
Underlining the risks for civilians, authorities in Kharkiv reported on Saturday morning that another body had been pulled from the rubble after an aerial barrage reduced multi-story buildings to smoldering heaps.
At least two people, including a three-year-old, were killed and another 19 people wounded, local officials said.
Under the current US-backed blueprint for ending the war, Ukraine would cede parts of the eastern Donbas region and agree not to join NATO.
Zelensky said last week that Ukraine has been able to wrest some concessions, notably removing the provision that land seized by Moscow’s army would be recognized as Russian.
The Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometers (2,160 square miles), or 0.94 percent, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, which works with the Critical Threats Project.
This includes areas that Kyiv and military analysts say are controlled by Russia, as well as those claimed by Moscow’s army.
That is more land than the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 60,000 square kilometers it took in the first year of its invasion.
Russia made its biggest advance in 2025 in November — 701 square kilometers — whereas the 244 square kilometers it gained in December was the smallest since March, the data showed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently told his citizens that the military intends to seize the rest of the Ukrainian land he has proclaimed as Russian if talks fail.
- New cabinet appointees -
Zelensky has shuffled his cabinet ahead of the January 6 summit in France.
He announced on Friday that he offered the defense ministry to his 34-year-old minister of digital transformation, Mikhailo Fedorov.
Without explaining his decision to replace Denys Shmygal, the Ukrainian leader said he had proposed the incumbent “head another area of government work that is no less important for our stability.”
Zelensky also recently named Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to head his presidential office.
Budanov will succeed Zelensky’s most important ally, Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
“At this time, Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations,” Zelensky said.
“Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.”
Budanov said he had accepted the nomination and would “continue to serve Ukraine.”
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