Ten NGOs and magistrates arrested Emmanuel Macron on Friday, worried that France would become "
a land of impunity for Syrian torturers
" if the law does not change concerning universal jurisdiction, the exercise of which is made "
legally impossible
" for the “
most serious crimes
”.
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Universal jurisdiction allows a state to prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes, regardless of their nationality and where they were committed.
"
It is clear, Mr. President, that despite the commitment given when you were a candidate for the presidential election (...), nothing has been done to amend the law
", underline in an open letter Amnesty International, the League of Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders and the Syndicat de la magistrature, among others.
A "total lack of political will"
According to the signatories, since the law of August 9, 2010 adapting the criminal law to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court, "
the exercise of universal jurisdiction for the most serious crimes has been made legally impossible
", and a recent judgment of the Court of Cassation is "
the perfect illustration
". In a decision rendered on November 24, the highest French court, seized by a former Syrian soldier indicted for complicity in crimes against humanity, concluded that the French judge was incompetent. This is on the grounds that Syria has not ratified the Rome Statute, nor has it criminalized crimes against humanity in its own law.
This condition is "
a bonus given to impunity
", affirm the NGOs and magistrates, who denounce a "
disastrous signal sent by France to all the executioners on the planet
".
"
While a first historic trial held in Germany will end in a few weeks (...) what can I say to the victims and to the Syrian NGOs who have brought their complaints to the French courts, hoping that the latter would also play its part in the fight for justice?
They ask themselves.
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For the signatories, who say "they
have come up against the total lack of political will
" to modify the French mechanism, "
there will never be efficient international justice if we make the exercise of universal jurisdiction impossible
".
"
It is urgent to change the law
", they say, calling on the head of state to commit "
firmly and resolutely
".
On Thursday, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office requested life imprisonment against a former colonel of the Syrian intelligence services tried in Germany in the framework of the first trial in the world of the abuses attributed to the Assad regime.
To try these Syrians, Germany applies the legal principle of universal jurisdiction.
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