The World’s States Must Move Ahead to Achieve Justice for At Least 15,087 Victims Killed due to Torture in Regime Detention Centers
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On Friday, May 24, 2024, the Paris Criminal Court officially convicted three Syrian regime security leadership officials in absentia on charges of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case of the Franco-Syrians Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick (Abdul Qader), who were arrested, forcibly disappeared, and subsequently killed under torture in a detention center operated by the Syrian regime’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate. The Syrian regime also seized the Dabbagh family’s properties in Damascus.
This ruling followed several trial sessions held in absentia against the accused from May 21-24, 2024. The case had been under investigation by the War Crimes Unit in Paris since November 2016, before a decision was made by the city’s General Prosecutor to launch a judicial examination on the grounds of the universal jurisdiction principle. On October 8, 2018, the examining judges issued arrest warrants against the three officers accused, namely Ali Mamlouk, Jamil Hassan, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud.
This landmark trial would not have been possible without the tireless and brave efforts of Obayda Dabbagh, Mazen’s brother, and Ms. Hanan Dabbagh, Mazen’s widow.
The Court sentenced the three high-ranking regime officers in absentia to life imprisonment, as they were convinced of complicity in imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, and causing deliberate harm to life, constituting crimes against humanity; and extortion and property seizure, constituting war crimes.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), represented by its Executive Director Fadel Abdulghany, closely followed, and attended the recent proceedings over the past four days. Moreover, SNHR’s data and reports were referenced in many of the statements made by the Dabbagh family’s lawyer, as well as the witnesses, and experts.