Eyad al-Gharib: Germany first condemns Syrian regime officer for crimes against humanity

The former junior regime officer was arrested in Berlin along with the regime’s former senior officer, Colonel Anwar Raslan, in February 2019, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which gives a national court jurisdiction for serious crimes against international law, even when they do not. were committed in the country territory.

Raslan, a former high-ranking intelligence officer, is still on trial. He is accused of supervising the torture of at least 4,000 prisoners during the Syrian uprising. At least 58 of the prisoners died. Rape and sexual assault would have occurred in at least one case.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country’s nearly decade-long war. But attempts to set up an international tribunal have been thwarted by Russian and Chinese vetoes at the United Nations Security Council.

Syrian officials have repeatedly denied the allegations, insisting they are targeting terrorists and not peaceful protesters.

“Today is an exceptional day in the lives of Syrians,” Amer Matar, a 33-year-old Syrian who said he was tortured by Raslan, told CNN. “This is a very important message for us, as Syrians, that justice can really be done, even in a very remote place, such as Germany, even if partially, and for some people.”

The International Justice and Accountability Commission (ICJC), investigators who provided documentary evidence used by the prosecution, called Tuesday’s verdict “historic.”

“This is a historic verdict,” CIJA director Nerma Jelacic told CNN. “Not only because he is the first to convict a Syrian regime official for crimes against humanity, but also because he acknowledges that his crimes were part of a widespread and systematically orchestrated attack by the highest organs of the Assad regime.

“This is just the first of many other processes and investigations we support,” Jelacic added. “It’s been almost 10 years since the Eyad A murders. [al-Gharib] he was convicted of committing them in the early days of the uprising, while the regime repressed protesters with empty weapons. ”

Since 2012, the ICJA has been collecting evidence of the Syrian government’s alleged crimes from investigators known as “document hunters”. They are Syrians recruited and trained by former war crimes investigators and lawyers to take thousands of government documents out of Syrian war zones.

The human rights group, Amnesty International, has called on several countries to follow Germany’s example. “We call on several states to follow Germany’s example by investigating and prosecuting persons suspected of committing war crimes or other crimes under international law in Syria through their national courts under the principle of ‘universal jurisdiction,'” said Lynn Maalouf. the deputy director of the organization for the Middle East and North Africa.

Syrian human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, who is considered one of the driving forces behind the Koblenz trial, called the ruling “a message to all criminals who still commit the most horrific crimes in Syria and to remind them that time Impunity has passed and there is no safe place to flee. ”