DUBAI: The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) submitted a legal complaint on Thursday to the European Commission against Italy, claiming that officials were in breach of EU law by allowing Bashar Al-Assad’s top security adviser into the country.

The letter stated that the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau of the Baath Party, Ali Mamluk, met with former Interior Minister Marco Minniti and head of Intelligence, Alberto Manenti in early 2018.

Earlier this year unconfirmed reports said that Mamluk visited Rome in January to meet with the Italian officials.

The ECCHR claimed that the meeting violated an EU travel ban that was put in place against Mamlouk in May 2011. The EU placed sanctions on Mamluk due to his involvement in violence against demonstrators during the 2011 uprising in Syria, the report said.

The statement read: “The Council Decision governing these sanctions obliges all Member States to take ‘the necessary measures to prevent the entry into, or transit through, their territories of the persons responsible for the violent repression against the civilian population in Syria’”.

As a result, the human rights group called the Mamluk’s visit to Italy a “flagrant violation.”

Mamlouk is known to be one of the most high-ranking security officials in Syria and reports directly to Assad.