Syrian ex-colonel gets life sentence in German ‘crimes against humanity’ trial

THE HEAD OF Human Rights Watch hailed as “historic” a German court docket’s sentencing at present of a former Syrian colonel to life in jail for crimes in opposition to humanity in his war-ravaged nation.

“That is actually historic,” HRW government director Kenneth Roth informed reporters in Geneva following the decision within the first world trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria.

The German court docket sentenced the previous Syrian colonel to life in jail.

Anwar Raslan, aged 58, was discovered responsible of overseeing the homicide of 27 individuals on the Al-Khatib detention centre in Damascus, also referred to as “Department 251″, in 2011 and 2012.

He sought refuge in Germany after deserting the Syrian regime in 2012.

Prosecutors had accused him of overseeing the homicide of 58 individuals and the torture of 4,000 others on the detention centre, however not the entire deaths could possibly be confirmed.

The defendant, carrying a inexperienced winter jacket and listening to the decision by way of headphones, remained impassive as his sentence was learn out in court docket.

Greater than 80 witnesses, together with 12 regime deserters and plenty of Syrian women and men now dwelling throughout Europe, took the stand to testify throughout the trial, with round a dozen additionally attending the decision.

The presiding decide mentioned they deserved “full respect”.

Syrian activists gathered outdoors the court docket at present holding banners and posters with slogans corresponding to “the place are they?” referring to their relations who’ve disappeared in Syrian detention centres.

Raslan was placed on trial in April 2020 together with one other lower-ranking defendant, Eyad al-Gharib, who was accused of serving to to arrest protesters and ship them to the detention centre.

Gharib was sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail final yr for complicity in crimes in opposition to humanity, within the first verdict worldwide over torture by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s authorities.

‘Systematic assault’

The court docket within the western German metropolis of Koblenz at the moment famous a “widespread and systematic assault in opposition to the civilian inhabitants” since Syria’s civil battle started with a brutal crackdown on protests in March 2011.

The case in opposition to the 2 males was introduced utilizing the authorized precept of common jurisdiction, which permits offences to be prosecuted even when they have been dedicated in a special nation.

Different such instances have additionally sprung up in Germany, France and Sweden, as Syrians who’ve sought refuge in Europe flip to the one authorized means presently obtainable to them.

In one other distinguished case in Germany, the trial of a former Syrian physician charged with crimes in opposition to humanity is because of open subsequent week.

The chief prosecutor within the Raslan trial, who has famous Germany’s historic accountability to evaluate such crimes, quoted a Holocaust survivor in his closing speech.

Raslan labored for 18 years within the Syrian secret providers, the place he rose by way of the ranks to turn out to be head of the home intelligence “investigation” service, in response to a German investigator who testified on the opening of the trial.

Prosecutors say he oversaw rape and sexual abuse, “electrical shocks”, beatings with “fists, wires and whips” and “sleep deprivation” on the jail.

Flogging, electrical shocks

Witnesses reported flogging, electrical shocks, cigarette burns and blows to the genitals. Some say they have been hung by the wrists, with solely the guidelines of their ft nonetheless touching the bottom.

One man testified about mass graves that he was liable for cataloguing.

Some witnesses have hidden their faces or appeared in disguise, fearing penalties for his or her surviving relations in Syria, whereas different victims have been too afraid to come back ahead in any respect.

“I hope we have been in a position to give a voice to those that are disadvantaged of it” in Syria, Wassim Mukdad, a former detainee who testified within the trial, informed AFP forward of the decision.

“I need justice to be performed,” he mentioned.

Photographs of useless Syrians smuggled in another country by ‘Caesar’, a defector who had labored as a photographer for the Syrian army police, have additionally been used as proof within the trial.

Raslan remained silent all through the trial however mentioned in a press release by way of his attorneys that he had “neither overwhelmed nor tortured” prisoners and had “by no means acted inhumanely”.

They mentioned he “didn’t and wouldn’t condone” the abuses dedicated by the Syrian regime and felt “remorse and compassion” for all of the victims.

Raslan has by no means tried to cover his previous and informed police about his time in Syria in February 2015 when he sought police safety in Berlin.

In accordance with the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, a minimum of 60,000 individuals have been killed beneath torture or on account of the horrible circumstances in Assad’s detention centres.

“This trial is essential for Syrians as a result of it examines very severe crimes that proceed to be dedicated at present,” mentioned Syrian lawyer Joumana Seif.

© AFP 2022