The trial of ousted Syrian President Bashar al‑Assad and other figures from his inner circle began on Sunday before a Syrian court, with one of the defendants present.
Bashar al‑Assad and his brother Maher, who fled Syria after the fall of their regime in December 2024, will be tried in absentia. A member of their family, however, Attef Najib, appeared in court in handcuffs.
The defendants are being tried mainly for atrocities committed during the Syrian civil war, which erupted in March 2011 following the violent crackdown on pro‑democracy demonstrations.
“Today we are launching the first trials within the framework of transitional justice in Syria,” judge Fakhr al‑Din al‑Arian said at the opening of the hearing.
“The case concerns one defendant who is in custody and present before the court, as well as defendants who are evading justice,” he clarified.
The trial is set to resume on 10 May.
Five decades in power
A judicial source, who requested anonymity, told Agence France‑Presse (AFP) that Sunday’s hearing was a preliminary step ahead of the examination of the cases of Bashar al‑Assad, his brother and other figures such as Najib.
Najib, a cousin of Bashar al‑Assad, was arrested in January 2025. He is a former head of political security in Deraa, the city where the uprising against the Syrian president began in 2011. He is accused of having led a widespread campaign of repression and arrests there.
The overthrow of Bashar al‑Assad and his flight to Moscow brought to an end more than five decades of rule by his family in Syria.
According to a judicial source, other senior figures from the Assad government are also expected to stand trial, including Wassim al‑Assad, another cousin of the ousted president. Among the accused is also Amjad Youssef, a key suspect in a massacre carried out in 2013, who was arrested this week, as well as “pilots who took part in the bombing of Syrian cities."
More than half a million people were killed during the war, which raged in the country for 13 years.
Syrian forces bombed numerous areas held by rebel forces, while tens of thousands of people disappeared, mostly detained in prisons.
Since coming to power, Syria’s new authorities have arrested many former officials and have pledged that justice will be served for the crimes of the previous regime.
Source: CNA