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Germany: Syrian torture on trial
[DW] A German court has found a Syrian former army colonel guilty of crimes against humanity, handing him a life sentence. It was a landmark trial to examine state-sponsored torture during the Syrian civil war.A German court convicted a former Syrian colonel of crime against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison on Thursday. Anwar Raslan was found guilty of 27 counts of murder, rape and sexual assault carried out at the al-Khatib detention center near Damascus. The former intelligence officer was tried under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the prosecution of crimes in one country even if they happened elsewhere. He is the highest-ranking Syrian officer so far convicted of crimes against humanity. "This trial cast a much-needed, renewed spotlight on the kinds of sickening torture, cruel and truly inhuman treatment — including abject sexual violence — that countless Syrians were subjected to in detention facilities," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said. She urged other states to prosecute international crimes using universal jurisdiction. WHAT WAS RASLAN ACCUSED OF? The 58-year-old former colonel had denied committing torture or giving instructions for others to commit torture. Prosecutors said Raslan was responsible for the torture of at least 4,000 people in the notorious al-Khatib prison in the Syrian city of Douma, in 2011 and 2012 — during the early stages of the Syrian Civil War. They said he supervised interrogations including "electric shocks," beatings with "fists, wires and whips," rape and sexual abuse, and sleep deprivation. The mistreatment had served to coerce confessions and obtain information, the prosecution said. The court sentenced him to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Raslan's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict. More than 80 witnesses testified during the trial about the "catastrophic conditions" in the detention center. They took the stand despite "great fear of the Syrian regime, whether for themselves or for their families," said judge Anne Kerber. "I owe them my full respect." RIGHTS GROUPS WELCOME VERDICT The trial could set a precedent for future proceedings against Syrian officials who committed crimes during the war in Syria. Executive Director for Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth told DW that Syria never joined the International Criminal Court, and China and Russia have "blocked" access to the court through the UN Security Council through their veto. For this reason, "a number of governments, Germany included, helped to circumvent the veto in the UN Security Council by going to the UN General Assembly and getting it to create what's known as the International Independent Impartial Mechanism [IIIM]." The result is that survivors of torture and chemical weapons ...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented except among devout Moslems... attacks have been left with limited options to seek justice until now. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, at least 60,000 people have been killed under torture or as a result of the terrible conditions in Syrian detention centers. Related: Anwar Raslan: 2022-01-11 Syria's Assad regime on trial in Europe Anwar Raslan: 2021-12-04 German prosecutors seek life for Syrian in torture case Anwar Raslan: 2020-06-23 Syrian doctor arrested in Germany for 'crimes against humanity': prosecutor Posted by: trailing wife 2022-01-14 |
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