For the first time ever, German prosecutors have charged two Syrians with crimes against humanity including the torture and killing of opposition activists.
The trial would be the first of its kind for suspected members of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad‘s security service.
Germany detained the two men earlier this year under its “universal jurisdiction” laws that allow it to prosecute people for crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.
Prosecutors said charges against the main suspect, identified as Anwar R under Germany’s privacy rules, include 58 murders and multiple sexual assaults in a Damascus prison where at least 4,000 opposition activists were tortured.
It said Anwar R oversaw interrogations at the facility and is suspected of involvement in crimes against humanity between 2011 and 2012. He left Syria in 2012 and arrived in Germany in July 2014.
The second suspect, Eyad A, is charged with facilitating the torture of at least 30 opposition activists arrested after intelligence agents opened fire on an anti-Assad demonstration in Douma near Damascus in 2011. Eyad A, who left Syria in 2013 and arrived in Germany in April 2018, worked for an intelligence unit led by Anwar R. Both suspects had applied for asylum in Germany.
No date was set for a trial and no comment was available from the two Syrians.
Efforts to prosecute members of Mr Assad’s government have repeatedly failed, as Syria is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Russia and China have also vetoed attempts to give the ICC a mandate to set up a special tribunal for Syria.
German prosecutors last year issued an international arrest warrant for the head of Syrian Airforce Intelligence on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Syrian human rights lawyers in Germany say their goal is to collect enough evidence from survivors of torture and sexual violence, as well as from the families of victims to convince German prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant for Mr Assad. (Source: Independent UK/Reuters)