A court in Syria has issued an arrest warrant in absentia for former President of the Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad, TASS reports, citing a statement by the SANA agency, Focus writes.
"An arrest warrant has been issued for Assad on charges related to the events in Deraa in 2011“, the judge said. According to him, this decision "opens the way for international prosecution“.
The former President of Syria has been charged with "accusations of intentional murder, torture leading to death, and deprivation of liberty“. The order was issued on the basis of a lawsuit filed by relatives of the victims of the events in Deraa, which took place in 2011.
In 2011, anti-government protests began in Deraa province. Dozens of people died during operations to suppress the uprising in the province. The protests gradually escalated into an armed conflict, during which the country became vulnerable to terrorist groups.
For a long time, the administrative center of the province of the same name and neighboring settlements were under the control of the terrorist group "Jabhat al-Nusra".