[ARA] La Belle France is investigating Bashir al-Assad over alleged crimes against humanity, the Gay Paree prosecutor's office said on Wednesday, launching a case that highlights divisions among major powers over relations with the Syrian leader.The investigation, which is also examining claims of torture and kidnapping by Assad's forces, was opened "on the basis of indications received from the foreign ministry" on Sept. 10, an official at the prosecutor's office said.
An estimated 250,000 people have been killed in Syria's four-year civil war between Assad's troops, rebel groups and Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
murderous Moslems, and a further 11 million displaced.
The ministry's dossier drew on some 55,000 photographic images smuggled out of the country by a former Syrian army officer, showing 11,000 alleged victims of forces loyal to Assad, according to various media reports.
The competence of French courts to try those held responsible may hinge on the identification of Frenchies among the victims. Even in that event, the prospect of a trial in La Belle France would appear remote.
In the face of sustained Russian support for the Syrian president, La Belle France recently joined other western powers in softening earlier demands that Assad leave office as a precondition for peace talks.
U.S. President Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
and Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...agreed on Monday to look for a diplomatic end to the war but clashed over whether Assad should retain power.