Top Syrian officer faces war crimes charges in Swedish court

The highest-ranking Syrian military official to be tried in Europe on Monday appeared before a Stockholm court accused of war crimes during Syria’s civil war.

Former Brig. Gen. Mohammed Hamo, 65 who lives in Sweden, is accused of “aiding and abetting” war crimes and could get a life jail sentence.

The war between President Bashar Assad’s regime and armed opposition groups, including Daesh, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.

It has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged Syria’s economy and infrastructure.

Wearing a dark blue shirt, jeans and sneakers, Hamo listened carefully and took notes as prosecutor Karolina Wieslander read out the charges.

Wieslander said Hamo had contributed — through “advice and action” — to the Syrian army’s warfare, which “systematically included attacks carried out in violation of the principles of distinction, caution and proportionality.” “The warfare was thus indiscriminate,” Wieslander told the court. The trial is expected to last until late May.

The prosecutor said the Syrian army’s “widespread air and ground attacks” caused damage “at a scale that was disproportionate in view of the concrete and immediate general military advantages that could be expected to be achieved.”

In his role as brigadier general and head of an armament division, Hamo allegedly helped coordinate and supply of arms to units.

Hamo’s lawyer, Mari Kilman, told the court her client denied criminal responsibility.

“In any case he has not had the intent toward the main charge, that indiscriminate warfare would be carried out by others,” Kilman said. Kilman said the officer could not be held liable for the actions “as he had acted in a military context and had to follow orders.”