Historic Torture Trial In Germany Renders Verdict Against Former Syrian Intelligence Officer

On Wednesday, a German court made the historic decision to render a verdict against a former person in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s secret police who has been implicated in crimes against humanity.

Eyad al-Gharib, 44, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on Wednesday, the initial verdict in the trial that began this past year in conjunction with a far more senior intelligence officer, Anwar Raslan, 57. Raslan was purported to have been around in charge of investigations at a branch of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate and was Gharib’s former supervisor. He remains on trial. Both men had sought asylum in Germany.

The ruling was a historic event since it marks the initial court case on the planet over state-sponsored torture under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. The Associated Press reports that “German prosecutors invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction for serious crimes to create the case that involved victims and defendants who have been in Germany.”

Russia and China have reportedly used their vetoes to block attempts by the U.N. Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.

The court in Koblenz, Germany, found Gharib “guilty of detaining at the very least 30 opposition activists after anti-government demonstrations began in 2011,” in accordance with The Washington Post. The court also said that Gharib sent the protesters to an intelligence center where he was aware they might be tortured.

The trial began in April and included testimonies from witnesses and torture victims. On the list of witnesses was a guard from the al-Khatib detention center referred to as Branch 251. The AP reports that “the court also considered photographs of a large number of alleged victims of torture by the Syrian government. The images were smuggled out of Syria by way of a former officer, who goes on the alias of Caesar.”

Wassim Mukdad was detained in Syria in September 2011 and gave his testimony in court. He reportedly said it felt just like the first time he told his story where he felt enjoy it could make an improvement.

He was among over twelve Syrians to take the stand, and retold how he was blindfolded, hit with a rifle, and loaded onto a bus to be studied to Branch 251. The Washington Post reports, “Throughout a total of 16 days in detention, [Mukdad] lost a lot more than 37 pounds. At one point he said he was packed right into a cell just a little over 230 square foot with 87 others. He described the knowledge as ‘hell.’”

The trial was set in place in Germany following a random encounter in Berlin when Anwar al-Bunni, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer, recognized Raslan in his refugee center because the one who had arrested him in Damascus in 2006 before he spent five years in prison.

“It really is right, it really is fair,” Anwar al-Bunni said concerning the verdict. Bunni identified Syrian witnesses for the trial and was also a witness himself. He said Gharib told the court he supports justice for the victims. “The data against him was just his testimony,” Bunni said.

Al-Gharib held the rank of sergeant major before he defected and left Syria in 2013 to visit Germany in 2018. His lawyer, Hannes Linke, plans to appeal the verdict and request that the very best court review the low tribunal’s decision to dismiss al-Gharib’s defense he acted to prevent injury to himself.

NPR reports:

On the ultimate day of his trial the other day, [the broadcaster] DW reported, Gharib wiped away tears as his attorney argued he had to check out orders in Damascus, a defense strategy referred to as “necessity as defense.” The lawyers argued that Gharib and his family could have been killed if he disobeyed.

Human rights advocates disagree. “Sooner or later, he did have a selection,” says rights lawyer Streiff. “He joined years back. He had a selection then.”

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights is reportedly attempting to bring more cases against Syrian officials to trial in Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Norway.

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