Paris – AFP
Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, returned the Legion of Honor to France, a week after the French judiciary confirmed a final prison sentence against him in the case of “unlawful gains”, according to his lawyer.
His lawyer, Elie Hatem, declared in a statement: “Rifaat al-Assad feels that he has been let down by France, the country he valued so much and provided him with many services, which earned him the Legion of Honor, the highest honor in our country. Disappointment prompted him to return this medal to France.”
And last week, the Paris Court of Cassation rejected the last legal appeal available to Rifaat al-Assad and made his four-year prison sentence final after he “illegally” built a real estate empire estimated at nearly ninety million euros.
The 85-year-old former Syrian vice president was convicted of “laundering Syrian public funds” as part of an “organized gang” between 1996 and 2016, and “tax fraud.”
Rifaat al-Assad wrote in a letter: “In light of recent court decisions issued against me by French judges in a lawfully acquired property case, after a series of civil investigations and unfair trials, I feel obligated to challenge the conclusions that have been erroneously reached.”
He added: «As long as this nation does not effectively regain the independence of its judiciary (…) I will no longer see any honor or meaning in retaining France’s highest honor. Therefore, I return the Legion of Honor to you.”