Sentencing the "Butcher of Hama" by four years

ARK News.. After years of opening the investigation file on his wealth, and months of the trial sessions that began last year, the French judiciary issued a prison sentence on Wednesday 4 years after Rifaat Al-Assad, uncle of the Syrian regime's president, Bashar al-Assad.

On Friday, a Paris court ruling condemned Assad for laundering money with others, and the court decided to seize all his property in the country.

The file of the investigation into the fortune of Hafez al-Assad's brother began in 2014 when the "Sherpa" organization, which defends the rights of victims of economic crimes, lodged a complaint in which it considered that the value of his real estate properties in France exceeded his known income.

However, the French judiciary did not refer him to trial until 5 years later, on charges of committing crimes between 1984 and 2016, including money laundering, tax fraud, and the seizure of public funds.

The French prosecution said at the time, according to Agency France-Press, that the accused bought hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate from funds belonging to the Syrian state, which was transferred to him as part of a settlement with his late brother Hafez.

He also owns hundreds of properties in Spain with a family of 695 million euros.

It is noteworthy that the accused, who is more than 82 years old, and who often refrained from attending court sessions for health reasons, has been in exile since he tried to overthrow his brother Hafez in 1984.

In some Syrians, he is known as the “Butcher of Hama”, for his bloody role in suppressing the 1982 uprising in the city of Hama.

Source: Arabic Net

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