Paris: Following "hundreds of thousands of deaths" and "chemical weapons use" during the nation's civil war, French Foreign Minister said on Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad should be tried.
In response to a question about whether or not she wanted Assad to face trial, Catherine Colonna said during a television interview, "The answer is yes," adding that "the battle against crime, against impunity, is part of French diplomacy."
With a recent appearance at an Arab League summit, which he had previously been barred from for ten years, Assad made his return to the regional scene. Despite this, Colonna stated that Paris would not alter its stance towards the Syrian president.
We must keep in mind who Bashar Assad is. For more than ten years, he has been a leader who his own people have fought against, she said. It was "certainly not" in the plans for the European Union to lift its sanctions against the Syrian government, she added.
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There is no reason to change our attitude towards him, Colonna said, "so long as he doesn't change, so long as he doesn't commit to reconciliation, to the fight against terrorism, to the fight against drugs." She continued, "I believe it is up to him to change; it is not up to France to change our attitude."
