Assad officials face landmark Paris trial over killing of student and father

Prosecution of three high-ranking Syrian officials to be tried in absentia could pave way for president’s case

At midnight on 3 November 2013, five Syrian officials dragged arts and humanities student Patrick Dabbagh from his home in the Mezzeh district of Damascus.

The following day, at the same hour, the same men, including a representative of the Syrian air force’s intelligence unit, returned with a dozen soldiers to arrest the 20-year-old’s father Mazzen.