A former syrian regime officer was convicted of crimes against humanity by a German court on Tuesday. This was the first-ever trial of people linked to the government in Damascus. The German city of Koblenz’s court charged Eyad al-Gharib for aiding crimes against humanity and sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
Gharib’s charge comes after accompanying the transportation of 30 demonstrators that had been detained who were allegedly beaten on the way to prison, and Gharib was fully aware of the systematic torture in the prison for detainees. The junior regime officer and former senior regime officer Col. Anwar Raslan were arrested in Berlin. The arrests were made under universal jurisdiction, which allowed the national court to have jurisdiction over crimes against national law, even if not committed in the country. Raslan is still standing trial, accused of torturing at least 4,000 prisoners. The verdict on Tuesday was deemed “historic” by the Commission for Justice and Accountability investigators.
Read more: In world first, Germany convicts Syrian regime officer of crimes against humanity
