DAMASCUS: Trials of leading figures from the deposed Syrian regime represent a significant turning point in the country’s transitional justice process, two rights organizations said.
Speaking to SANA, the organizations said the judicial process moves documented rights cases into national courts, ensuring victims’ access to justice and strengthening accountability while preventing impunity.
Samer Aldeyaei, executive director of the Free Syrian Lawyers Association, said the trials represent a major shift in the justice process and send a clear message that no one is exempt from accountability for serious violations.
The comments came after the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus on Tuesday sentenced the head of the deposed regime, Bashar Assad, along with Atef Najib and other fugitives — Maher Hafez Assad, Fahd Jassem Al-Freij, Mohammad Ayman Ayoush, Louay Ali Al-Ali, Qusay Ibrahim Mahyoub, Wafiq Saleh Nasser, and Talal Fares Al-Aissami — to death.
Aldeyaei said the importance of the proceedings lies in transferring documented rights cases to national courts, and allowing victims and witnesses to seek justice through Syrian institutions.
Aldeyaei highlighted the need to systematically expand the process to include decision-makers and senior figures responsible for the repression system, while adhering to fair trial standards, defense rights, and judicial independence.
He said the trials form a foundation for a broader national process aimed at strengthening institutions, ensuring victims’ rights and providing remedies for those affected.
He added that accountability through fair judicial procedures would help reinforce confidence in the judiciary and state institutions.
Almoutassim Billah Al-Kilani, director of the Rased Syria community network at the Stabilization Support Unit and a specialist in international criminal law and human rights, said the trials have played a key role in Syria’s transitional justice process.
He said the proceedings have transformed victims’ right to justice from a moral demand into a practical legal process, demonstrating that state-building and the rule of law begin with accountability rather than revenge.
Al-Kilani said the trials must be accompanied by truth-seeking, reparations, the preservation of memory, and institutional reform to ensure that violations are not repeated.
He said investigations, documents, and witness testimonies have helped move beyond focusing only on direct perpetrators and toward examining chains of command and individual criminal responsibility.
This includes those who ordered, encouraged or assisted in crimes, as well as commanders who knew or should have known about violations and failed to prevent them, he said, stressing that responsibility is individual and not based on collective identity or affiliation.
Al-Kilani said the trials have contributed to examining killings, torture, enforced disappearance, and displacement within their broader systematic context, allowing for their legal assessment as potential war crimes or crimes against humanity under international law.
He stressed the importance of protecting witnesses and survivors, assessing risks, and providing psychological and legal support while ensuring defense rights.
Public hearings, the publication of reasoned judgments, and the preservation of evidence will help create a public record that protects the truth for future generations and reinforces accountability, he said.
