Lawyer Clemence Bectarte, left, arrives at the court room with Syrian lawyer Mazen Darwish, second left, Obeida Dabbagh,brother of Mazen Dabbagh, second right and his wife Hanane, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at the courtroom in Paris. A Paris court will this week seek to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials — the most senior to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country's civil war — were responsible for the 2013 disappearance and deaths of Patrick and his father Mazen. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Lawyer Clemence Bectarte, second left, arrives at the court room with Syrian lawyer Mazen Darwish, center, Obeida Dabbagh,brother of Mazen Dabbagh, second right and his wife Hanane, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at the courtroom in Paris. A Paris court will this week seek to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials — the most senior to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country's civil war — were responsible for the 2013 disappearance and deaths of Patrick and his father Mazen. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. In a landmark trial, a Paris court will this week seek Tuesday May 21, 2024 to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials were responsible for Patrick and Mazzen Dabbagh's disappearance and deaths. The hearings are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad's regime has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to keep power in Syria's civil war. (SANA via AP, File)
Lawyer Clemence Bectarte answers reporters Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at a courtroom in Paris. A Paris court will this week seek to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials — the most senior to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country's civil war — were responsible for the 2013 disappearance and deaths of Patrick Dabbagh and his father Mazen. The four-day hearings, starting Tuesday, are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad's government has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to hold on to power during the conflict, now in its 14th year. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Lawyer Clemence Bectarte answers reporters Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at a courtroom in Paris. A Paris court will this week seek to determine whether Syrian intelligence officials — the most senior to go on trial in a European court over crimes allegedly committed during the country's civil war — were responsible for the 2013 disappearance and deaths of Patrick Dabbagh and his father Mazen. The four-day hearings, starting Tuesday, are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad's government has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to hold on to power during the conflict, now in its 14th year. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)