A portrait of Rifaat al-Assad. (Credit: AFP)
Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, will stand trial in Switzerland for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Swiss attorney general said on Tuesday.
The office of Switzerland's Attorney General (OAG) said it was charging the former Syrian vice president and former Syrian army officer with a long list of crimes committed in February 1982, during a conflict between the Syrian military and Islamist opposition.
"The accused is charged with ordering homicides, acts of torture, cruel treatments and illegal detentions ... in his capacity as commander of the defense brigades ... and commander of operations in Hama," it said in a statement.
It said the alleged "war crimes and crimes against humanity" he was being charged with had taken place "within the context of the armed conflict and the widespread and systematic attack launched against the population of the city of Hama," in central Syria.
Syrian security forces had been deployed to Hama in early February 1982 to suppress an insurrection by the Islamist opposition, and the operation allegedly ended at the end of the same month.
The OAG highlighted the defense brigades, which Rifaat al-Assad commanded, "were purportedly the main forces in charge of the suppression."
"In this context, several thousands of civilians were allegedly victims of different abuses, ranging from immediate execution to detention and torture in specifically-created centers, according to several testimonies," it said.
According to the indictment, the armed conflict in question is estimated to have caused between 3,000 and 60,000 deaths in Hama, most of them civilians.
The complaint against him was first filed in 2013 by TRIAL International, a rights group that works with victims and pushes Switzerland to prosecute alleged international criminals.
The criminal proceedings in Switzerland were finally initiated under so-called international jurisdiction, which allows countries to prosecute alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide regardless of where they were committed.
Under Switzerland's former Military Criminal Code, war crimes have been considered criminal offenses in the country since 1968, regardless of where they are committed and the nationality of the offenders or the victims.
Rifaat al-Assad was forced into exile in 1984 after a failed attempt to overthrow his brother but returned to the country in 2021.
His trial date in Switzerland has yet to be announced.