France to try Syrian President Assad's uncle on graft charges
The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to stand
trial in France on charges of building up a big property empire in the country
using funds from Syrian state coffers, legal sources said on Wednesday, according to AFP.
An investigating magistrate ordered Rifaat al-Assad to stand
trial for organized money laundering in building the 90 million euro ($102
million) property portfolio in France, according to the order for the trial
seen by AFP.
Its date has yet to be set.
Rifaat al-Assad, dubbed the "Butcher of Hama" for
allegedly commanding the troops that bloodily put down an uprising in central
Syria in 1982, has been under investigation in France since 2014.
In a written decision dated March 8, seen by AFP on
Thursday, the office of the financial crimes prosecutor called for Assad to
stand trial for laundering the proceeds of aggravated tax fraud, embezzling
Syrian state funds, and failing to register French security and cleaning staff.
Assad, who splits his time between France and Britain,
denies the charges.
Formerly Syria's vice-president, Rifaat Assad left Syria in
1984 after mounting a failed coup against his brother Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's
father who led Syria from 1971 to 2000.
After he arrived in Europe, his lavish lifestyle, four
wives, and 16 children soon raised eyebrows.
His reported French fortune includes two Paris townhouses,
one measuring a vast 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet), as well as a
stud farm and a chateau near the French capital, and 7,300 square meters
(79,000 square feet) of office space in Lyon.
Most of that was bought in the 1980s through offshore
companies in Panama, Curacao, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.
He and his family also own over 500 properties in Spain.
These were seized by authorities in 2017.