Swiss Court mulls closing Assad’s uncle war crimes case

Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court is considering dropping a case charging an uncle of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, newspapers reported on Sunday, Report informs via AFP.

Rifaat al-Assad is accused by Swiss prosecutors of a long list of crimes, including having ordered "murders, acts of torture, inhumane treatment and illegal detentions" while an officer in the Syrian army.

His part in the notorious February 1982 massacre in the western town of Hama, which left between 10,000 and 40,000 dead, earned him the nickname of "the Butcher of Hama".

The date of the former vice president's trial has not been announced.

On November 29, just a few days before his nephew's overthrow by Islamist-led rebels, the Federal Criminal Court informed the victim plaintiffs that "it wished to close the proceedings" into Rifaat al-Assad, according to the Swiss Sunday newspapers Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung.

The tribunal said that the defendant in his 80s was suffering from ailments preventing him from traveling and taking part in his trial, the papers reported.

The federal public prosecutor's office opened the criminal proceedings in December 2013 following a report by the Swiss non-governmental organization Trial International.

Alerted by Syrians living in Geneva, the rights group traced Assad to a major Geneva hotel.

"Trial confirms the intention expressed by the court to the parties to close the case. But the formal decision has not yet been taken," Benoit Meystre, the NGO's legal adviser, told AFP on Sunday.

"If the case is closed, the possibility of an appeal will be examined, and it is highly likely that this decision will be contested," Meystre said, adding that any appeal would have to be brought by the plaintiffs and not the NGO.

Swiss prosecutors opened the proceedings on the grounds of universal jurisdiction in crimes against humanity and war crimes cases.