While the trial of Bashar Al-Assad opened in absentia in Damascus on April 26, 2026, the former Syrian leader leads a protected and luxurious existence in Russia. Between fortified villas in Moscow and return to ophthalmology, the Assad clan enjoys a golden retirement under the watchful eye of the Kremlin, far from the courts of the Syrian transition.
Justice always ends up knocking at the door, even if the accused is 2,500 kilometers away. While the first transitional justice trials begin in Syria to judge the war crimes of the fallen regime, Bashar al-Assad remains nowhere to be found in his country, sheltered by his lifelong ally, Vladimir Putin.
A historic trial without the main culprits
The time of reckoning has come at the courthouse in Damascus. This Sunday, April 26, a preliminary hearing marked the opening of the trial against Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and their entourage for the abuses committed since 2011. If the dictator’s cousin, Atef Najib, appeared “handcuffed and in striped prison clothing”, the two Assad brothers will be judged in absentia, according to AFP. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan was clear: “Today, we are starting the first trials under transitional justice in Syria.”
Castle life in the suburbs of Moscow
While his former subordinates face judges, Bashar al-Assad benefits from the Muscovite splendor. According to the New York Timesafter the fall of the Syrian regime at the end of 2024, the clan first stayed in Four Seasons residences at $13,000 per week before settling in Rublevka, the ultra-select neighborhood of the oligarchs.
Between dinners at the Sixty restaurant on the 62nd floor of a skyscraper and extravagant receptions for his daughter Zein’s 22nd birthday, exile very much resembles a “golden retirement”. His family fortune, estimated at between one and two billion dollars, appeared to have remained intact at the start of this year.
Political silence and return to the scalpel
Russian protection, however, comes at a price: total erasure. The Kremlin imposes absolute media silence on the former dictator. Become “insignificant” in Putin’s eyes, according to The Guardianthe former manager would indulge in new hobbies: video games or even resuming his studies in ophthalmology, his initial profession.
A relative even confides that he could consider “practicing with a wealthy clientele in Russia”. A peaceful reconversion which contrasts violently with the 500,000 dead left behind in Syria.
