Former Syrian secret police officer declares his innocence
UN calls for Syria talks
BERLIN, May 19, (AP): A former Syrian secret police colonel testified in a German court Monday that he was not involved in the torture of opponents of the regime of President Bashar Assad, in the first war crimes trial outside Syria linked to the country’s years-long conflict.
Anwar R., 57, is accused of crimes against humanity, rape and murder as head of the Al Khatib detention center, also known as Branch 251, near Damascus.
As a senior member of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate, R. is accused of overseeing the “systematic and brutal torture” of more than 4,000 prisoners between April 2011 and September 2012, resulting in the deaths of at least 58 people, according to the indictment.
His co-defendant, 43-year-old Eyad A., is accused of being part of a police squad that detained protesters and brought them back to Branch 251, where they were then mistreated. Neither of their last names has been released, in line with German privacy laws.
In his first statement since his trial opened in April, Anwar R. told the Koblenz state court that he was not guilty of the accusations against him.
“I have not committed the crimes I’m accused of,” he said in a statement read by his attorneys, the dpa news agency reported. “I have never taken part in human rights violations.”
Instead, he said, he was a secret supporter of the Syrian opposition, and testified that he sympathized with the victims of torture.
Patrick Kroker, a lawyer for the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights that is supporting several of the victims, called the defendant’s statement “grotesque.”
At least nine torture victims are represented as co-plaintiffs in the case, as allowed under German law. They and several others are expected to be called as witnesses.
Kroker told The Associated Press that R. had accused all witnesses of either lying or not having been under his responsibility.
R.’s attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The two defendants left Syria for Germany before their arrest in February 2019. If convicted, Anwar R. could face life imprisonment. Eyad A. could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if convicted of complicity in crimes against humanity.
The Koblenz regional court, where the trial is being held, has reduced the number of seats available to reporters and the general public by a third due to social distancing rules to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The trial is expected to run several months. Meanwhile, the UN special envoy for Syria called Monday for talks between Russia and the United States to help end the more than nine-year-old war, saying the two major powers could play “a key role.”
Geir Pedersen’s encouragement to Moscow and Washington to take a leading role was his first public appeal to the rival powers on opposing sides of the conflict - Russia which has been the key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the United States which supports the opposition.
Pedersen told the UN Security Council on Monday that the three countries that have taken the lead in arranging cease-fires in Syria - Assad allies Russia and Iran and opposition backer Turkey “are key players too.”
He said members of a committee from the Syrian government, opposition and civil society who are supposed to draft a new constitution for the country and the 15 council nations are key players as well.
Pedersen said there have been too many fleeting opportunities in the past decades to move from conflict to a political path that were lost, and “those missed moments were followed by renewed violence and a hardening of positions among regional and international actors.” “We must not repeat this pattern,” he said. Pedersen said there is anxiety that while violence has somewhat abated at the moment it could escalate at any time, and deep disappointment that the political process hasn’t delivered tangible improvements for the Syrian people.
“And there is a widespread sense that international competition is more prominent than cooperation, with Syrians paying the price,” he told the UN’s top council.
With some calm at the moment and the world facing common threats from the COVID-19 pandemic and Islamic State extremists, Pedersen stressed that building trust between key international parties and with Syrians “is essential - and could unlock progress” toward peace.
He then encouraged the US and Russia along with the others to engage in dialogue.
Ultimately, Pedersen said, “there is a need to come together to support a renewed effort in a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process” toward a political settlement based on the 2015 Security Council resolution that endorsed a road map to peace including drafting a new constitution and UN-supervised elections.
The longstanding divisions between the US and Russia over Syria were evident in their speeches to the council that followed, which gave no indication of a desire for talks.
US Ambassador Kelly Craft said fully implementing the 2015 road map, starting with an immediate nationwide cease-fire, is “what will move Syria toward a future of peace” - and that’s what the Security Council must pursue.
She urged the council to ensure that the Syrian government reverse “its destructive pattern of behavior against its own people” and agree to a cease-fire instead of pursuing a military solution to the conflict.