French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday, September 2, APA reports citing Le Monde.
"Investigating judges of the French War Crimes Unit have issued arrest warrants for seven former senior Syrian officials, including fallen president Bashar al Assad," FIDH wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
Assad and six other officials are accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity targeting French and international journalists Remi Ochlik, Edith Bouvier, Marie Colvin, and Paul Conroy, as well as interpreter Wael al Oma who were killed or wounded in the attack on an informal press centre in Homs, Syria in 2012.
"The issuance of these seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al Assad’s regime against Remi Ochlik and his fellow journalists who were in the informal press centre in Bab Amr in February 2012," said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the FIDH.
