Syria - Assad's torturer in Germany sentenced for atrocities: "groundbreaking"

Created: 01/14/2022 05:31

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 (OLG) sentenced a former secret service employee to life imprisonment on Thursday. The judges found 58-year-old Anwar R. guilty of crimes against humanity, 27 counts of murder, torture and other offences. According to the indictment, the accused used to work for the secret service of 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 human rights organization Human Rights Watch at a news conference Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland.

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

Further processes in Germany and other countries must now follow.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights stated that the Koblenz state torture trial had shown what international criminal justice could do according to the so-called principle of universal law "with all its deficits".

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

Syria: Groundbreaking verdict in Koblenz – Life imprisonment for Assad's torturer

According to the conviction of the federal prosecutor, who led the charge in the trial, the accused had previously worked as a military commander in the notorious Al-Khatib prison in the Syrian capital Damascus. Between April 2011 and September 2012, at least 4,000 prisoners were tortured with beatings, kicks and electric shocks under his command. Many prisoners died from the mistreatment.

In the verdict on Thursday, the presiding judge paid tribute to the surviving victims, almost 80 of whom had testified as witnesses in the approximately two-year process. They testified in part despite great fear of the Syrian regime. They would have done this despite worrying about themselves or their families. "You have my full respect for that." R.'s defense had demanded an acquittal. According to them, the defendant was not responsible for the torture in Al-Khatib.

The accused gestures before the verdict is announced in the courtroom of the Higher Regional Court.

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

A former chief of interrogation sat in the dock in a Syrian secret service prison.

© Thomas Frey/dpa

In their pleading, the federal prosecutor's office countered that R., as the military commander, assigned the interrogators and prison guards to work in the detention center and determined their work processes.

He also knew about the extent of the torture.

The ill-treatment served to force confessions and obtain information.

First Syria trial ends with life imprisonment – ​​human rights activists welcome verdict

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

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

The verdict is not yet legally binding.

The investigations and the trial against the two men were in motion because previous victims who had fled to Germany had recognized their alleged tormentors.

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

The fact that the trial is taking place in Germany is due to the so-called principle of universal jurisdiction in international criminal law.

Accordingly, crimes that have no direct connection to Germany may also be negotiated.

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

A Syrian doctor has been charged with crimes against humanity.

He is said to have tortured prisoners and deliberately killed one of them.