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Higher Regional Court in Koblenz: Could Anwar R. have picked up the phone and taken action against the torture?
Photo: Thomas Frey / dpa
Former Syrian Colonel Anwar R. is on trial in Koblenz for crimes of torture - and as the process is drawing to a close, opinions about R's responsibility could not diverge further.
After the federal prosecutor's office had already demanded a life sentence against R., the defense has now requested an acquittal.
In what, according to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, is the world's first criminal trial for torture by the state in Syria, the Koblenz Higher Regional Court (OLG) in particular deals with the question of the extent to which R. had authority in the notorious Al-Khatib prison in Damascus. Lawyer Yorck Fratzky said in his plea that the accused had neither tortured nor given instructions.
On the contrary, according to Fratzky, 58-year-old R. even arranged for prisoners to be released.
The employee of a criminal regime could "not just pick up the phone when he realizes that injustice is happening in prison," said Fratzky.
This puts him and his family in mortal danger.
He could not be expected to desert without his family.
This could then have been used as a means of pressure against him.
R. never denied having known about the torture - but he never approved of it.
4000 people maltreated with blows, kicks or electric shocks
R. wanted to make use of his right of the defendant's last word that afternoon, said the lawyer.
R. had denied the prosecution's allegations at the start of the trial.
The State Security Senate is expected to announce the verdict on the 108th day of the hearing on January 13th.
The federal prosecutor's office accuses Anwar R. of crimes against humanity in 2011 and 2012 in the early stages of the Syrian civil war.
He is said to have been responsible for the torture of at least 4,000 people in a General Secret Service prison in Damascus as the head of interrogation - including beatings, kicks and electric shocks.
At least 30 prisoners died in the meantime.
In addition to the life imprisonment, the Federal Prosecutor's Office also applied for a determination of the particular gravity of the guilt, which would almost rule out a release from prison after 15 years.
The internationally acclaimed trial began in April 2020 with two defendants.
In February 2021, the younger man, the Syrian Eyad A., was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for aiding and abetting a crime against humanity.
According to the conviction of the judges in Syria, the 45-year-old had helped bring 30 protesters of the Arab Spring to the torture prison of the main defendant in 2011.
A decision has not yet been made on Eyad A.'s appeal against his judgment.
The international law principle in international criminal law makes it possible to prosecute possible war crimes committed by foreigners in other countries.
After their escape in Germany, Anwar R. and Eyad A. were recognized by alleged victims of torture and arrested in Berlin and Zweibrücken in 2019.
apr / dpa / AFP