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Syria: Groundbreaking verdict in Koblenz - life imprisonment for Assad's torturer

2022-01-13T11:59:03.479Z


Syria: Groundbreaking verdict in Koblenz - life imprisonment for Assad's torturer Created: 01/13/2022, 12:52 PM A former Syrian commander was on trial in Koblenz - and has now been sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, murder and torture. Koblenz - In the world's first trial of state torture in Syria, the Koblenz Higher Regional Court sentenced a former secret service empl


Syria: Groundbreaking verdict in Koblenz - life imprisonment for Assad's torturer

Created: 01/13/2022, 12:52 PM

A former Syrian commander was on trial in Koblenz - and has now been sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, murder and torture.

Koblenz - In the world's first trial of state torture in Syria, the Koblenz Higher Regional Court sentenced a former secret service employee to life imprisonment on Thursday. The judges found the 58-year-old Anwar R. guilty of crimes against humanity, 27 murders, torture and other offenses. According to the indictment, the accused was a former employee of the secret service of the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and is said to have run a prison. Human rights activists praised the verdict as groundbreaking.

"This is really historic," said the executive director of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch at a press conference on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Secretary General of Amnesty International in Germany, Markus N. Beeko, said in Berlin that the judgment was a "historic signal in the global fight against impunity".

Further processes in Germany and other countries should now follow.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights stated that the Koblenz state torture process had shown what international criminal justice can achieve according to the so-called world law principle “with all deficits”.

The verdict creates a "solid base" for other prosecutors.

Syria: Groundbreaking verdict in Koblenz - life imprisonment for Assad's torturer

The Federal Prosecutor's Office, which led the indictment, is convinced that the defendant had previously worked as a military commander in the notorious Al-Khatib prison in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Under his command, between April 2011 and September 2012, at least 4,000 prisoners were tortured with beatings, kicks and electric shocks. Many prisoners died from the abuse.

In the verdict on Thursday, the presiding judge paid tribute to the surviving victims, of whom almost 80 had testified as witnesses in the two-year trial. Some of them testified despite great fear of the Syrian regime. They would have done this even though they were worried about themselves or their families. “I have all my respect for them.” The verdict in the process, which was observed around the world, largely corresponded to the demands of the prosecution. R.'s defense had demanded an acquittal. According to them, the defendant was not responsible for the torture in Al-Khatib.

The accused gesticulates in the courtroom of the Higher Regional Court before the verdict is pronounced.

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, in the world's first criminal trial for state torture in Syria, the defendant Anwar R. was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.

A former interrogator in a Syrian secret service prison sat in the dock.

© Thomas Frey / dpa

The Federal Prosecutor's office countered this by stating that R., as the military commander, assigned the interrogators and prison guards to work in the prison and determined their work processes.

He also knew about the extent of the torture.

The abuse was used to force confessions and obtain information.

First Syria trial ends with life imprisonment - human rights activists welcome the verdict

In the trial, which began in April 2020, a second man was also charged, who was involved in the torture as a subordinate of R.

Almost a year ago in February 2021, the Koblenz court sentenced him to four and a half years in prison for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.

The verdict is not yet legally binding.

The investigation and trial against the two men were in progress because former victims who had fled to Germany had recognized their alleged tormentors.

The accused were then arrested in Zweibrücken in Rhineland-Palatinate and in Berlin.

The fact that the process takes place in Germany is due to the so-called world law principle in international criminal law.

According to this, acts may also be negotiated that have no direct connection to Germany.

While the trial in Koblenz is about to end, another hearing on state torture and murder in Syria * will begin on January 19 at the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court.

A Syrian doctor is charged with crimes against humanity.

He allegedly tortured prisoners and deliberately killed one of them.

(AFP / aka) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-01-13

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