An open letter to President Macron: “France must not be a land of impunity for Syrian criminals”
International and Syrian organizations concerned with human rights and documenting violations, including the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, sent an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, after the ruling issued by the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation in France on November 24, 2021, which adopted a strict interpretation of the standard Double criminality stipulated in Article (689-11) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, where the ruling concluded that the French judiciary does not have the jurisdiction to consider crimes committed in Syria, because the Syrian state has not ratified the Rome Statute, and that Syria does not criminalize crimes against humanity in its domestic legislation.
The letter considered that this requirement of dual criminality concerning crimes under international law, is not required for other crimes committed outside French territory and covered by international conventions, nor is it required by the Rome Statute, since the international criminal law of the Court can be considered even if the law of The country in which the offenses were committed does not criminalize the offense in question.
The organizations participating in the letter emphasized that the requirement of double criminality “amounts to questioning this universality and is completely incompatible with the principles underlying international criminal justice.”
The letter warned that this condition is considered a "reward for impunity", because it is sufficient for the state in which crimes against humanity or war crimes are committed, to refuse to ratify the Rome Statute, and not to criminalize these acts in its internal legislation, so that they become permissible acts. “This decision grants a visa to all torturers in the world to flee to France because the French courts do not have the power to hold these criminals accountable.”
After their letter, the undersigned organizations affirmed that there will be no effective international justice if it is made impossible to exercise universal jurisdiction, since this jurisdiction is, in many cases, the only recourse to redress the victims of international crimes; Calling on President Macron to work to change this law, and to give tools and mechanisms that allow victims and associations to continue their struggle against impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, and to turn to French justice as well.
