It is scheduled that the trial of the former spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam), Majdi Nehme, known as Islam Alloush, will be held before the Special Criminal Court in Paris, in April of next year.
The French newspaper, Le Figaro, reported on Wednesday, April 4, that the trial will take place on April 25, 2025, on charges of complicity in war crimes in Syria between 2013 and 2016, according to a briefing note that the newspaper said the France Press Agency had seen.
The trial, to be held by the Criminal Court under France’s universal jurisdiction, will extend from April 29 to May 23 of the same year.
The French judiciary is accusing Nehme of complicity in committing war crimes and aiding in the recruitment of children and adolescents between 2013 and 2016, and participation in a “criminal association” with the intent to prepare for “war crimes”, potentially facing a prison sentence of twenty years.
Before the French judiciary, Majdi Nehme says he was merely a “powerless” spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam, which took control of Eastern Ghouta in 2011, from the first year of the Syrian revolution against the Syrian regime.
Following his acquittal of the kidnapping charge
This date comes after the French Court of Cassation decided last February to drop the charges against the spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam, concerning the kidnapping of four human rights activists in Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, in 2013.
At that time, Le Figaro reported that the court had rejected an appeal against the decision filed by the civil parties and upheld the conclusions of the investigating chamber, pointing out that supporting the charge of enforced disappearance requires “positive action and direct involvement by those in power”, which does not seem to have been proven.
The newspaper confirmed then that Islam Alloush will be tried in Paris for complicity in war crimes in Syria between 2013 and 2016.
In November 2023, Alloush’s defense attorney, Raphaël Kempf, in a conversation with Enab Baladi, confirmed the cancellation by the Paris Court of Appeal of the procedures taken against his client, adding that he is not guilty of committing the war crime of taking hostages and kidnapping, which means his acquittal of the charge of killing Syrian activist Razan Zaitouneh and a group of activists.
Kempf continued, stating that the Paris Court of Appeal decided to refer Islam Alloush to the criminal court on charges of complicity in committing war crimes in Syria between 2013 and 2016.