French court confirms Bashar al-Assad’s uncle guilty over property fraud
PARIS – The Paris
appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found an uncle of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad guilty of acquiring millions of euros’ worth of
French property using funds diverted from the Syrian state, the AFP news agency
reported on Thursday.
The court also confirmed a four-year jail sentence on Rifaat
al-Assad, although the 84-year-old former military commander is unlikely to
serve time because of his age.
The ruling clears the way for all of Rifaat al-Assad’s
property in France, estimated to be worth about 90 million euros ($105
million), to be seized, as ordered by the lower court in June last year.
Rifaat al-Assad is widely held responsible for the
suppression of an Islamist uprising in 1982 against then-president Hafez
al-Assad, Bashar’s father. Many thousands were killed.
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