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French judicial government trouble arrest warrant for Syrian president.

 French prosecutors said in a statement that they had asked the country's highest court to rule on the validity of an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for alleged complicity in crimes during Syria's long-running civil war.

Appeals court judges had previously ruled that the warrant was valid, rejecting prosecutors' arguments that the Syrian leader enjoys absolute immunity as acting head of state. The judicial authorities' decision was hailed as historic by victims' lawyers.

The lawyers said the ruling was the first time a domestic court had recognized that a sitting head of state's personal immunity is not absolute. But the prosecutor stressed that the issue of personal immunity must be closely examined.

In addition to the arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad, the French judicial system issued arrest warrants last November for his brother, Maher Assad, commander of the 4th Armored Division, and several Syrian generals for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The crimes include a 2013 chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb then held by rebels. The lawyers said the four could be arrested and taken to France for questioning while the investigation into the attack continues.

It is unlikely that the Syrian president will be tried in France. But it is very rare for an international arrest warrant to be issued against a sitting head of state, which would be a strong message about his leadership. Nevertheless, many doubt the credibility of the French judicial system.

On November 16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answered media questions. One of them was: "Please tell us something about the actions of the French judicial authorities, given that no clear evidence of the use of chemical weapons has been presented."

At the time, the minister said: "The bias against both has been repeatedly demonstrated at home and abroad. We are talking about the use of chemical weapons in the Idlib de-escalation zone in 2013. This incident has been widely reported. ”

“Many independent experts… have provided evidence suggesting that the notorious terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra Front may have been involved in this incident. I am not aware of the assessments or facts on which the Paris court based its verdict.”

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