The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been handed corruption-related charges, the French financial prosecutor's office says.
The charges were handed down to 78-year-old Rifaat al-Assad on June 9 after two non-governmental organisations filed complaints that led to an investigation beginning in 2014, a spokesman for the financial prosecutor's office said.
Charges include receiving embezzled public funds and links to money laundering, the prosecutor's office said. Former Syrian vice president Rifaat al-Assad has lived abroad since his 1984 exile from Syria after an attempted coup against his brother and then-president Hafez al-Assad.
One of the non-governmental organisations, Sherpa, said in a statement that a French judge also ordered al-Assad be prohibited from leaving France, with an exception for receiving medical care in Britain.
Al-Assad, who owns multiple luxury properties in France and Britain, has denied allegations of misconduct. He has also denied allegations that he took part in a 1982 massacre of an estimated 40,000 people in the Syrian city of Hama.
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