**PARIS** – The headquarters of the French humanitarian association SOS Chrétiens d’Orient have been subjected to a three-day search this week, from Tuesday, September 23, to Thursday, September 25, as part of a preliminary investigation into complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, franceinfo reports. Investigators are seeking to determine if donations collected by the charity since 2016, ostensibly for humanitarian operations, were potentially channeled to pro-Bashar al-Assad militias in Syria, who stand accused of committing atrocities against the Syrian population.
About ten investigators from France’s Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes (OCLCH) spent three days at the association’s offices in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb west of Paris. Additional searches were carried out at premises in Courbevoie, also in the Hauts-de-Seine department, and in Paris itself.
Authorities confiscated computer equipment and accounting ledgers during the raids. The seized data, some of which requires translation from Arabic, is expected to be analyzed by investigators in the coming weeks. During the search operations, members of the association’s board and former missionaries were interviewed as witnesses. No arrests have been made at this stage of the inquiry.
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) confirmed the ongoing preliminary investigation, which was initially opened on December 2, 2020. The Pnat stated that “several search operations” involving associations, including SOS Chrétiens d’Orient, along with companies and private residences, and “several interviews as witnesses or individuals under investigation” took place between Tuesday and Thursday.
The preliminary inquiry focuses on “complicity by aid or assistance in war crimes” and “complicity by aid or assistance in crimes against humanity.” According to reports by Mediapart in 2020, confirmed by franceinfo through sources close to the case, some Syrian partners of SOS Chrétiens d’Orient are alleged leaders of pro-Assad militias, specifically the National Defense Forces (NDF). These militias have been accused by Syrian non-governmental organizations of looting villages, bombing civilians, and recruiting child soldiers in Syria. Investigators from the OCLCH are particularly keen to ascertain whether thousands of euros in donations, collected for what were officially designated as humanitarian activities, ultimately supported these NDF militias.
Further searches related to the same investigation were simultaneously conducted in Redon, Ille-et-Vilaine, western France, targeting a company called Ad Litteram. Investigators are exploring whether this company facilitated the collection of suspicious donations for SOS Chrétiens d’Orient. Tristan Mordrelle, who leads Ad Litteram, is reportedly linked to far-right circles and was a focus of this specific search. Law enforcement also visited another company in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Ille-et-Vilaine, and an additional location in Essonne, within the wider Paris region.
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient was founded in 2013 by Catholics with close ties to France’s extreme-right political movements.
