A Syrian colonel is jailed for life in a first torture trial for the Assad regime. It’s one step in a ‘long path to justice,’ say victims’ families
Anwar Raslan, a senior regime official, headed the investigation unit at a notorious Damascus detention center known as Branch 251. On Thursday, he was”Regardless of how long [Raslan] will be imprisoned, he will have a clock near him, he will see the sun and know when it rises and when it sets,” Ghrer told the court. “He will have medical care when needed, and he will receive visits from relatives who will know how he is doing, just as he will know how they are doing.” Raslan’s trial was seen as the culmination of nearly a decade of evidence collected by activists and lawyers seeking to hold the Assad regime accountable for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the early years of Syria’s uprising-turned-war, which began in 2011, volunteers known as “document hunters” smuggled out hundreds of thousands of documents from abandoned regime facilities. Many said they braved an onslaught of bullets and rockets to smuggle out papers that served as evidence in investigations against the regime. In 2013, a defector codenamed Caesar smuggled tens of thousands of photographs showing prisoners allegedly tortured to death in Assad’s jails. The images were also part of the evidence in the landmark trial. Lawyers and activists have vowed to continue to pursue the prosecution of former and current regime officials implicated in crimes. In Germany, Raslan and Gharib were arrested under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which gives a state jurisdiction over crimes against international law even if these did not occur inside that state.The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), which provided evidence to the court, welcomed what it described as a “historic conviction” Thursday, saying it was “a critically important measure of justice for the survivors and victims of the Syrian regime.””As our investigators continue collecting evidence of Assad’s atrocities and tracking regime officials in Europe, we expect to see more such trials in the near future,” the CIJA statement said. “Our thoughts are with our Syrian colleagues whose selfless clandestine work behind the scenes of the world’s most dangerous conflict continues to feed investigations and prosecutions in Europe.”The Syrian regime cannot be tried at the International Criminal Court because it is not party to it. Syria could be investigated by the ICC if the United Nations Security Council refers it, but Russia and China have blocked a previous attempt to do so by the UNSC. In July 2021, a German prosecutor indicted a Syrian regime doctor, Alaa Mousa, who is accused of burning the genitals of at least one prisoner. His trial begins in Frankfurt this month.”We all agree that this can only be a first step,” Patrick Kroker, a lawyer with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights representing the joint plaintiffs, said in a Monday news conference. “There are international arrest warrants still outstanding against even higher-ranking persons and we hope and we demand that these will be pursued. “There will be no safe haven in the world for these people.”Correction: This story has been updated to correct the details of Anwar Raslan’s sentencing. He may be eligible for parole after 15 years in jail.
