Venezuela condemns arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad

The Venezuelan government on Thursday rejected an arrest warrant issued by a French court against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – valid throughout the European Union – as false.

In a statement, the Nicolás Maduro-led administration rejected the move “in emphatic and strong terms”, saying it “ignores the prerogatives of a sitting head of state” and “goes against the benefit of procedural immunity”. It suits him.”

The letter highlights that the Syrian president has been “subject to a series of false accusations” in an act that is a clear violation of international law as enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Calling the arrest warrant an “irresponsible stance,” Caracas expressed its solidarity with the “brother president” while urging the international community to “avoid any pretext for foreign intervention against the Syrian people and government.”

The text concludes that Venezuela “resolutely rejects imperialist intervention and any other threat that seeks to legitimize actions that violate the sovereignty of independent countries and governments.”

Venezuela categorically and strongly rejects the arrest warrant against the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad, issued by the French Court of Appeal, which accused him of a series of lies and turned into a disgrace… pic.twitter.com/6xuvFbfcLk

— Yvan Gil (@yvangil) June 27, 2024

A Paris appeals court on Wednesday upheld President Bashar al-Assad’s right to be removed from office for a series of chemical weapons attacks in 2013.

The ruling was considered “historic” by private prosecutors, who in statements to the press said it was “the first time” a national jurisdiction had recognized that a sitting president’s personal immunity was not absolute.

The lawyers, who did not want to comment on the substance of the decision because there was still no time to analyze the arguments, highlighted that in any case the validity of the euro order issued by the French trial court should be certified. November.

In practice, says Clémence Witt – one of the lawyers in the private prosecution – this means that Bashar al-Assad should be detained if he enters any EU country.

The arrest warrant-based raids were carried out within the framework of the Assad regime’s crackdown on protests that began in 2011 and led to a civil war that has since left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced millions of people internally and externally. Syria