In November 2021, the Court of Cassation had considerably reduced opportunities for prosecuting criminals against humanity, including Syrians. A decision of the Chamber of Instruction of the Paris Court of Appeal, Monday, makes the lines moving.
by
In the legal jargon, a “judgment of rebellion” is called the decision of a “lower” court contrary to the case law of the Court of Cassation. In fact, this is a catch-up stop. The Chamber of Instruction of the Court of Appeal of Appeal took, on Monday, April 4, the counterpied of the Court of Cassation in an judgment concerning the universal jurisdiction of France, that is to say the ability of the French judicial system to judge crimes committed outside the national soil by foreign nationals.
The Chamber of Instruction has decided that Majdi Nema, a former Syrian Islamist rebellious living in France, could be indicted – and possibly judged one day – for “torture or act of barbarity, forced disappearance, crime of war and participation in a criminal association with a view to the preparation of a crime or a crime of war “committed between mid-2013 and at the end of 2016.
m. Nema, former spokesman for the Jaych Al-Islam Group (Army of Islam) arrested in January 2020 in France, asked the Chamber the cancellation of various procedural acts on the case of relying on the judgment of the Court of Cassation of 24 November 2021, already rendered in the framework of a Syrian procedure and marking an important turning point of the case-law in respect of universal competence. The high court had felt that in terms of crimes against humanity, an offense can only be continued in France if it exists in the country where it was committed. This double incrimination also applies to war crimes, but not to torture or genocide crime. Other “locks” limit the universal jurisdiction of French justice, including the need for a continuous presence on the French territory of the incriminated person, but that of the double criminality is the heaviest.
Palpable discomfort of the government
The Syrian law does not repress the crimes against humanity, the judgment of the Court of Cassation closes the door to trial of the type of the one held in Koblelence, Germany, where Anwar Raslan and Eyad Al-Gharib, respectively officer and subordinate of the branch 251 (called al-khatib) of the intelligence services, were judged in 2020 and 2021. At the moment when the first verdicts – four years in prison for Mr. Al-Gharib, Perpetuity for Mr. Raslan – fell in Germany, France disisted.
The palpable discomfort of the French Government has materialized by a joint statement by the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs considering for the future legislative planning in order to allow the holding of such trials. Paris is indeed in advance in the speeches on the fight against impunity. But when the opportunity arose to remove double criminalization, especially through an amendment submitted by Senator Jean-Pierre Sueur (Socialist Party), the Ministry of Justice has formally opposed it.
You have 28.36% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.