The trial session over violations that took place on the Syrian coast in March 2025 resumed today, Thursday, June 18, 2026, at the Palace of Justice in Aleppo (northern Syria).
According to Enab Baladi’s correspondent, who attended the session, the hearing was divided into two parts. The first was dedicated to the trial of seven Assad regime remnants, while the second included seven members affiliated with current government and security bodies.
Trial of “Remnants and Government Personnel”
During the session for Assad regime remnants, known as the “remnants,” the court reviewed evidence and heard statements from the defendants, who denied the charges against them.
The court displayed a photo of one defendant carrying a person’s head, but he denied that it was linked to the coastal events.
The defendant explained that the photo dated back to an earlier period, during his participation in operations against the Islamic State group in the Tulul al-Safa area in the Suwayda countryside (southern Syria) in December 2019.
During the session, the judge said the National Investigation Committee had presented a case record concerning one of the defendants and asked the defense team to review it. The remaining defendants continued to deny the charges, before the court decided to postpone the session until July 9.
Regarding the second part of the session, related to government and security entities, seven defendants were questioned, including a captain.
They repeated their previous statements, before the court decided to postpone the session until July 16, when final statements are scheduled to be completed, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent.
Need for Full Justice
Rights advocate and lawyer al-Moutassim al-Kilani, who attended the session, told Enab Baladi that what is happening in Syria can be read within three models for dealing with the justice file.
He said one began with the trial of Atef Najib, another concerns the coastal events trials, and a third is linked to the Suwayda events.
He considered that these tracks still need to be tested for their commitment to fair trial procedures before speaking of a complete transitional justice process.
Any violation in Syria, according to al-Kilani, whether before the “liberation” phase or after it, must be subject to fair trials.
He noted that the current work in covering these cases aims to assess the extent to which judicial procedures comply with legal standards.
He noted that a set of recommendations had been submitted since the first session to the Ministry of Justice and the court presidency regarding fair trial procedures.
He noted that several of them had been adopted, including stricter rules on not relying on confessions extracted under coercion, as well as opening investigations in some cases based on defense observations.
He also pointed to cases in which some defendants did not have lawyers, which prompted the court to postpone sessions to secure court-appointed lawyers to defend them.
Guaranteeing the rights of both victims and defendants is a basic condition for reaching fair rulings in any judicial track, according to al-Kilani.
The Seventh Session
The seventh session of the trial of defendants accused of involvement in the coastal events was held in mid-May at the Fourth Criminal Court at the Palace of Justice in Aleppo.
At the time, the session included Assad regime remnants accused of committing abuses against security and government personnel and inciting sectarian strife.
The court president presented the charges against them during the session, while the defendants denied the charges attributed to them, before he postponed the session until June 18.
Previous Sessions
These hearings are part of an ongoing judicial track through which the Criminal Court in Aleppo is reviewing the files of defendants in connection with the coastal events. The Palace of Justice in the city had previously hosted several public sessions since late last year.
In mid-March, the court held a session to try seven defendants in the same case, after three previous sessions were devoted to presenting evidence and hearing witnesses.
Video recordings and photos were submitted, which the court said documented the defendants’ involvement in carrying weapons and participating in armed actions and retaliatory acts targeting government forces and civilians.
During the third session, held on March 8, the defendants faced charges related to participating in attacks against security and army forces, involvement in acts aimed at inciting strife and civil war, forming armed gangs, and stirring sectarian tensions.
The court also presented video recordings at the time that included threats directed at security and army forces, before deciding to refer the displayed materials to a specialized expert for examination as part of the trial procedures.
The session was postponed, and March 15 was set as the date to resume it, including hearing defense witnesses, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent at the time.
On April 23, the court held a new session in the same case, during which it continued presenting documents and evidence linked to the investigations, as part of the court’s follow up on examining the submitted materials. Lawyers for the defendants requested additional time to complete defense documents and submit further information related to the case.
Lawyers who attended the session at the time said the postponement decision was intended to complete the examination of the video recordings and respond to defense requests.
The first public trial session was held on November 18, 2025, followed by a second session on December 18, 2025.
During those sessions, the court allowed defendants to present their statements and defend themselves, match their previous testimonies, and submit additional information within the framework of the right to defense, in the presence of their private lawyers or court-appointed lawyers.