If Syrians could try Bashar Assad today with the current Syrian judicial system, he would most likely emerge a free man, smiling.but far from innocent.
In the real world, massacres, tortures and genocides are not committed with documents bearing the names and signatures of the perpetrators, but with verbal orders and systematic policies hidden behind tightly closed security and military institutions.
The recent release of one of Assad’s army officers who played a brutal role in the killing of innocent Syrians, under the pretext of “lack of evidence,” cannot be considered as a mere legal vacuum. On the contrary, it is clear evidence of a structural flaw in the functioning of the Syrian judiciary today.
Syrian local courts, with their narrow legal instruments and limited jurisdiction, are completely incapable of dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity. They do not have the independence and technical capacity to document and evaluate evidence according to international human rights standards.
What is happening today is the natural result of a judicial approach that tries exceptional cases with the logic of ordinary criminal cases. Such courts cannot provide justice for the victims. On the contrary, it automatically acquits major criminals and contributes to their impunity, allowing criminal behavior and the lack of justice to continue.
“Real transitional justice requires the establishment of independent special courts with international judicial standards, with access to evidence and documents, in cooperation with relevant international organizations.”
Most importantly, it requires the inclusion of all Syrians, especially the victims and their families, in the justice process. The continued exclusion of victims, the disregard for their voices, and the confinement of the justice process to a narrow political framework by the current authorities, will turn this process into a simple cover for exonerating the murderers and perpetuating injustice.
National reconciliation cannot be achieved without clear justice. There can be no justice without true accountability, and there can be no true accountability without an international process that includes all victims in writing a new history for Syria – a history written not just in ink, but with dignity, truth, and justice.
Since the first day after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime, many Syrians have been sounding alarms about what will happen next, loudly trying to draw attention to the fact that continuing the justice process in its current absurd form will only lead to the exoneration of criminals and denial of the rights of their victims.
But the new authorities insisted on ignoring the warnings leaving many Syrians dismayed by the recent release of Fadi Saqr, a former commander of the National Defence Forces (NDF) militia, despite widespread accusations that he was involved in the Tadamon massacre, a horrific incident in 2013 where civilians were killed. Some sources indicate the massacre involved the execution of at least 41 civilians, with estimates as high as 288.
Like pouring salt on an open wound, visits to the Tadamon neighborhood by Saqr after his release sparked protests and widespread anger among Syrian citizens. Many view his “rehabilitation” as a betrayal of justice and a sign that war criminals may evade accountability.
The Syrian Civil Peace Committee has defended the court’s decision to release individuals like Saqr, stating that they surrendered voluntarily, and were investigated without evidence of war crimes being found. The committee views these releases as a pragmatic step toward civil peace and reconciliation. But this opinion brings no comfort to the families of the Tadamon massacre victims who believe that justice has been thwarted.
Since Saqr was granted a reprieve, Wassim Assad, Maher Assad’s chief drug dealer and producer, was arrested in a sophisticated security operation carried out by the Syrian General Intelligence and Security Service.
It is being hailed as the first step in a series of subsequent arrests that will target other members of former Syrian president Bashar Assad’s family; a family that transformed Syria into a family enterprise and a private farm for a network of exploiters and criminals for more than half a century.
Many Syrians will be watching closely to see the evidence presented during Wassim Assad’s trial, and if the current court system in Syria is truly capable of effectively executing justice in the case of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
