A court in the German city of Koblenz today (Thursday) sentenced Anwar Raslan, the former intelligence chief of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to life in prison for crimes against humanity.
Raslan, 59, was accused of torturing regime opponents who allegedly carried out when he commanded an interrogation facility known as Al-Khatib in the city of Duma, about 20 km northeast of the capital Damascus.
"This ruling is important to all Syrians who have suffered and still suffer from the crimes of the Assad regime," said Ruham HaWash, one of the survivors who testified at the trial.
"This verdict is just the beginning and we have a long way to go but for us this sentence and today's ruling are a first step towards freedom, dignity and justice."
German prosecutors claimed that Raslan supervised the "systematic and horrific torture" of some 4,000 detainees between 2012 and 2011 that resulted in the deaths of at least 58 of them.
The judges ruled that there was sufficient evidence to involve the former senior in the killing of 27 of them…
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