ALBAWABA - The Swiss Attorney General's office (OAG) said on Tuesday that Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will stand trial in Switzerland for for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The attorney general's office released a statement saying that Rifaat al-Assad is "charged with ordering homicides, acts of torture, cruel treatments and illegal detentions in Syria in February 1982" during the conflict between the Syrian Armed Forces and Islamist opposition.
The statement continued: "The 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 were dispatched to Hama in early February 1982 to suppress an Islamist rebellion, and the operation was reportedly completed at the end of the month.
The OAG highlighted the defense brigades, which Rifaat al-Assad commanded, "were purportedly the main forces in charge of the suppression".
"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.
The statement further detailed that these attacks resulted in an array of abuse crimes ranging from immediate execution to detention and torture in specifically-created centers, according to several testimonies.
According to the indictment, the armed conflict in question is thought to have killed between 3,000 and 60,000 people in Hama, the majority of them civilians.
TRIAL International, a rights organization that works with victims and advocates for Switzerland's prosecution of alleged international criminals, filed a complaint against him in 2013.
