Dutch police have arrested a man suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria in 2013 while he was a member of a prominent pro-Assad militia, prosecutors announced on Tuesday (May 24th).
Read alsoRifaat el-Assad, sentenced in France, returns to Syria
The 34-year-old man, who had been living in the Netherlands since 2020, where he applied for asylum, was arrested at his home in Kerkrade (South), the public prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The suspect, who will be presented to the investigating judge of the Hague tribunal on Friday, "
is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity
", said the prosecution.
The man is also suspected of participating in an organization whose aim is to commit international crimes.
War crimes and against humanity
He was born in the Palestinian refugee camp of Al-Nayrab, located near Aleppo, not far from the Turkish border, the prosecution said, adding that the suspect's nationality had not yet been determined.
The suspect was an alleged member of the pro-regime Liwa al-Quds militia, founded in the camp, and which works closely with Syrian intelligence services and the Russian armed forces, the prosecution said.
The man is suspected of having been involved in January 2013 in the violent arrest of a civilian at his home in Al-Nayrab, before being tortured in captivity.
This is the first arrest in the Netherlands of a pro-regime fighter suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria, raised the Dutch prosecutor's office.
Read alsoWhere is the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq?
Triggered by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, the war in Syria has claimed the lives of around 500,000 people, devastated the country's infrastructure and displaced millions of people.
The Syrian government and militias have committed widespread violations of human rights and the laws of war, according to the UN.
A former Syrian colonel was sentenced in January by German justice to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, following the first trial in the world on abuses committed by a fighter of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
