France's highest court upholds the imprisonment of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian regime's president

France's highest court upholds the imprisonment of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian regime's president

Sep 09 2022

ARK News… The highest court in France, on Wednesday, September 07, 2022upheld a judicial ruling convicting Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, of acquiring French property worth millions of euros, using funds transferred from the Syrian state.

The Court of Cassation ruling, which came at the conclusion of a long process during which Assad filed various appeals, upheld a four-year prison sentence for Rifaat al-Assad, who returned to Syria last year after becoming unable to dispose of his fortune in France.

"The assets held by Rifaat al-Assad in France that were seized during the proceedings will be permanently confiscated," said Sherpa, a group of France-based human rights lawyers whose criminal complaint was the reason for the start of the proceedings in 2013.

Al-Assad has lived in exile since the mid-1980s, spending most of this time in France, after he was accused of trying to seize power from his brother, the late President Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father.

He returned home in October after becoming unable to dispose of his fortune in France.

Rifaat al-Assad was the commander of forces accused of killing thousands in the Hama massacre in 1982.

The French judicial authorities suspected that he illegally acquired real estate in several countries between 1984 and 2016 with money from Syria. He repeatedly denied these accusations and said that he received his wealth as a gift from a Saudi monarch.

Source: Agencies

553