MESOPOTAMIA NEWS Top of the Agenda : Landmark Trial of Syrian Officers Begins / GERMANY

Two former Syrian army officers go on trial today (NYT) in Germany on charges of crimes against humanity committed in the early days of Syria’s civil war. The trial is the world’s first of a high-ranking official from Bashar al-Assad’s government and sets a precedent for a universal jurisdiction approach to war crimes.

Anwar Raslan and Eyad al-Gharib are accused (New Humanitarian) of helping operate a prison where four thousand people faced “systematic and brutal torture” in 2011 and 2012. The officers entered Germany as asylum seekers. Although China and Russia blocked (Al-Monitor) the International Criminal Court from prosecuting Syrian regime figures, Germany investigated this case using universal jurisdiction, which allows for trial of grave crimes anywhere in the world.
Analysis
“The argument for universal jurisdiction becomes that much stronger with a context like Syria, where there are really no other opportunities for justice,” the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy’s Mai El-Sadany told Al-Monitor.

“Human-rights lawyers hope the trial, which is being held in the German city of Koblenz, could open the way for more prosecutions of Syrian war crimes, whether in German courts, elsewhere in Europe or in a future tribunal,” Raja Abdulrahim and Ruth Bender write for the Wall Street Journal.
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