The Koblenz Higher Regional Court made a first decision in the world’s first trial against former employees of the Syrian secret service for torture. Human rights activists welcomed the verdict and hope for a signal effect.
The court sentenced the defendant Eyad A. on Wednesday to four and a half years in prison for complicity in crimes against humanity. The Syrian was found guilty of torture and grave deprivation of liberty.
Further proceedings are ongoing
The trial of the second defendant, Anwar R., will continue until at least October. He is said to have been responsible for the systematic mistreatment of people in a leading position in 2011 and 2012. The federal prosecutor’s office accused him of torture in 4,000 cases, murder in 58 cases, as well as sexual assault and rape. The process started in April 2020.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which is assisting some co-plaintiffs in the proceedings, welcomed the judgment.
Lawyer Patrick Kroker emphasized that the “extent and systematics of ‘disappearances’, torture and sexual violence in Syria” had been demonstrated in the trial. The verdict against the co-defendant also confirms that the acts of the Syrian government and its employees are crimes against humanity.
ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck stated: “The judgment will hopefully motivate other European investigative authorities to initiate similar proceedings.”
Important signal function
According to Amnesty International Germany, the judgment has an important signal function. For the first time, a court found in a legal process that a former functionary of the Assad government had committed the most serious crimes.
“The facts about the inhumane conditions of detention, torture and killings in Syria, which the court found, cannot be denied,” said General Secretary Markus N. Beeko. The proceedings against Eyad A. could only be the beginning, more would have to follow.
The basis for the Koblenz proceedings is the principle of universal law. Accordingly, crimes can be punished in Germany, even if the act did not take place in Germany, nor the accused or the victims come from Germany. People who have committed genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should not be able to live with impunity in Germany.
The two defendants came to Germany a few years ago in the course of the Syrian civil war.
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