Syrian rebel accused of war crimes tried in French court this month. The Probable Cause was there.

PARIS, France —-More than a decade ago, Majdi Nema joined the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president who led the repressive and unimaginably cruel regime for 14 years.

Assad’s presidency, inherited from his equally malignant father, marked nearly 50 years of torture, death and prisons so notorious the world was invited inside after Assad’s fall, cameras recording families weeping as they searched for any sign of a lost loved one.

Majdi Nema, spokesman for Syrian rebel group, Jaysh al-Islam, faces 20 years in prison for his alleged role in war crimes between 2013 and 2016 in Syria. He is on trial in Paris at the Chambre des appels correctionnels, a kind of appeal court. Photo is probably more than 10 years old. Credit: DR

Nema’s fight to overthrow Assad might have even been considered a mitigating factor. Anyone would understand opposing such a regime.

But in that fight against evil, Nema is accused of committing war crimes including recruiting minors, training them and indoctrinating them into the group Jaysh al-Islam, according to an article published by Justice Info on April 29. 

He is also charged with participation in a group created to commit war crimes, according to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH.)

Charges of complicity in the kidnapping and disappearance of four human rights attorneys in December 2013 in Douma were dropped, at least against Nema after the Cour de Cassation, a procedural jurisdictional court in Paris, ruled that Nema was not part of Assad’s government (if you can call it that) and therefore could not be judged for the crimes that include torture and execution, Justice Info stated.

Nema, born in 1988, was the spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam from 2013 to 2016.  He defected from the Syrian Army in 2012 to join the group and left in 2016 when the leader died. During that time, horrific crimes were committed against civilians in Syria. His group operated in eastern Ghouta, an area of about a half million people outside Damascus and Aleppo, according to internet sources including the two cited. 

Chambres des appels correctionnels, Palais de Justice, Paris

He came to the Marseille (France) area in January 2020 on a student visa, a few months after a lawsuit was filed by three human rights groups and five individuals and was arrested by French gendarmes, according to the two sources. Another source said Nema initially thought he was being kidnapped. by Syrian operatives.

This isn’t just the game, Cards Against Humanity. Four people, human rights  attorneys documenting the bloodbath, were abducted and never seen again. The group is accused of operating prisons where human rights atrocities were the norm.

There are those who would rather see him tried for war crimes in Syria, but that’s not possible right now, Justice Info said.                              .

With Assad’s overthrow, there is a new government, but it’s only a few months old. In December 2024, rebels swarmed the capital forcing Assad to take his cowardly person to Russia where he hides with the blessing of his friend, Vladimir Putin.

There is no real way to hold trials as the new leader keeps a tenuous hold on the country and attempts to control opposing factions. 

On Tuesday (May 13), the day Kim Kardashian visited the criminal court at the Palais de Justice in Paris where 10 men are on trial for bursting into her hotel room in October 2016, tying her up and robbing her of nearly $10 million in jewelry, Nema was but a couple hundred yards away in another courtroom where few people visited to document this historic trial.

His current appearance, obviously more than 10 years after the published photo was taken, is more menacing. Now in his late 30s, he is bald with a pony tail at the back of his head, heavier and scruffy from being detained for more than five years.

In court, he was confined to “the box,” a glass enclosure where the accused sits under guard as others testify.

Court official directed me to Nema's trial, May 13.

In this morning session, a man of Syrian and Spanish ( I was told) nationality was testifying, something that takes place standing up in the middle of the courtroom as judges and attorneys listen and ask questions.

Nema glowered at the man testifying which had to be intimidating. At least one article says some witnesses are reluctant to appear in court out of fear. Nema faces 20 years in prison.

Then, Nema grew restless and removed his black jacket, wearing only a faded white T-shirt. At one point, he started pacing in the enclosure while the guards looked at each other and to the judges. There was a moment when it looked like there might be an outburst.

As the witness was questioned, first by his own attorney, then the Avocat General (the state’s attorney) and finally Nema’s defense attorney, Nema scoffed at some of his answers.

Palais de Justice in Paris where the "grandpa robbers" are being tried for breaking in and stealing Kim Kardashian's jewels in 2016 at the same time Majdi Nema faces the court for war crimes in Syria.

Whatever the testimony was, phrases such as  “après le massacre” i.e. “after the massacre,”and the chilling, “le moment ou j’ai vu le massacre” i.e. “the moment when I saw the massacre,” were interspersed with “personne enlèvé, kidnappé”i.e. the “person who was kidnapped,” and “centre commercial” or commercial/business center. In Syria, the massacre could have taken place in one of those open air markets that are centuries old.

Spy novels or thrillers were evoked with other words like “personnalités russes” or “Russian personalities,” the “rapport de Fatima,” or evidence from Fatima, a woman’s name, and then “le fils blessé” or “the wounded son.” 

Further phrases such as  “parlait aux américains, israéliens” - “speaking to the Americans, the Israelis” added to the mystery to whatever operation Nema is said to have been involved.

Obviously there was a meeting. “Vous êtes deux en face de deux. Enfin vous êtes cinq.” Either the judge or an attorney established with the witness who was at that rendezvous:  “You were two facing two, so actually there were five,” because another person was there.

Nema had two defense attorneys and one spoke, arguing with the judge while waving what looked very much like a printed probable cause, single spaced in heavy black type.

“Ce n’est pas the le juge d’instruction qui est en charge de traduction; c’est l’interprète.” (It’s not the judge of instruction who’s in charge of the translation. It’s the interpreter), the head judge, dressed in a majestic red robe with an ermine stole, told the attorney.

As Nema’s attorney held up the probable cause, I was pleased to see one paragraph in the single spaced document highlighted in pink, although I might have chosen blue or green. 

Keeping up with the dialogue was a challenge as the translation, particularly with one interpreter, flowed smoothly, without a break from Arab to French and back again.

I thought ‘aren’t they going to take a break?’ as a few people strolled in with small coffees. This was intense.

Then, with examination and cross examination done, the judge in the red robe called for a break for five to 10 minutes.

The man who testified walked outside the court and was excitedly discussing the case with his attorney while Nema continued to sit in his box and talk to his attorneys through an opening in the glass. He was animated.

The trial that began on April 28 is scheduled to go on through May 23. The decision, which will likely take a few months, will be one made by the five judges sitting there taking notes during the trial and the jury,. seated behind the judges. In France, judges and jury work together during a trial.