Among them Bashar al-Assad.. France demands to locate about 20 figures from the former Syrian regime

SadaNews - The French public prosecutor for combating terrorism has requested the location of about twenty figures from the Syrian regime, including former President Bashar al-Assad.

 

This request comes as part of ongoing investigations into crimes against humanity related to the killing of journalists in the city of Homs, western Syria, in 2012, according to reports from the French Press Agency citing a judicial source.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor suspects a "joint plan" to bombard the press center in the Baba Amr neighborhood, noting that this attack was preceded, the day before, by "meetings that included all officials responsible for military and security forces in Homs."

In a supplementary judicial memo dated July 7, which the French Press Agency has seen, the prosecutor requested that the investigating judges assigned to the case locate nearly twenty individuals, including close associates of al-Assad.

Among the suspects are: Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother and commander of the Fourth Armored Division at the time, Ali Mamlouk, head of Syrian General Intelligence during that period, Ali Ayoub, chairman of the security and military committee in Homs in February 2012, and Rafiq Shuhada, the security and military officer in the city at that time.

The lawyers of journalist Edith Bouvier, who was seriously injured in the bombardment, welcomed this step, considering it a "concrete advance in the fight against impunity". They stated in an interview with the French Press Agency that "the time has come to issue arrest warrants," according to lawyer Marie Dossier.

For her part, lawyer Clémentine Picard, who represents the family of journalist Rémi Ochlik, who was killed during the bombing, along with the International Federation for Human Rights and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, confirmed that she requested in March to issue arrest warrants for the suspects.

On February 21, 2012, several Western journalists entered the besieged city of Homs, which was surrounded by Assad's forces, and settled in a house converted into a press center in the Baba Amr neighborhood, the former stronghold of the Free Syrian Army.

In the early hours of the morning, the journalists awoke to the sounds of explosions and realized that the neighborhood was being bombarded by regime forces. The bombing resulted in the deaths of American journalist Marie Colvin (56 years old) and French photographer Rémi Ochlik (28 years old) due to injuries sustained from a mortar shell.

In Paris, judicial authorities opened an investigation in March 2012 into murder and attempted murder against French victims. In October 2014, the investigation was expanded to include war crimes, and in December 2024, to include crimes against humanity, in an unprecedented development concerning victims among journalists.

Source: lorientlejour