German trial of Syrian duo draws anti-Assad protest
Human rights activists gathered outside a court in the German city of Koblenz to protest against the Assad regime during the latest stage of a trial involving two men accused of torturing prisoners in Syrian jails.
Anwar Raslan, 57, and Eyad Al Gharib, 43, are being tried on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows a foreign country to prosecute crimes against humanity. The men deny the charges.
Activists from The Syria Campaign, Families for Freedom and Adopt a Revolution held banners in front of the court. One banner described Bashar Al Assad’s Syria as a “torture state” and another said the country was not safe.
Dozens of images of people who the Syrian regime is accused of abducting or killing were held up in front of the court by protesters.
Wafa Mustafa, a Syrian activist, said he took a picture of his father to the demonstration.
“My dad completed 2,522 days in Assad detention centres,” he said.
“This trial is one step in our very long and difficult journey towards justice. First of all, release the detainees.”
Last Wednesday, the court focused on whether an interview police conducted with Mr Al Gharib in August 2018 was admissible in the trial, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, which attended the trial, reported.
The human rights organisation supports plaintiffs in the case.
The organisation reported that in August 2018, police “questioned Eyad A as a witness in structural investigations about Syria, not as a suspect in a criminal investigation”.
Mr Raslan, who was a colonel in Syria’s intelligence services under the Assad regime, is accused of overseeing the murder of 58 people and torture of another 4,000 people at Al Khatib detention centre in Damascus in 2011 and 2012.
Mr Al Gharib was allegedly in charge of arresting anti-government protesters and delivering them to a notorious jail known as Branch 251, or to Al Khatib, which was run by Mr Raslan.
Both men fled Syria in 2013 and were spotted by their alleged victims in Germany as they sought asylum.
The plaintiffs in the case are expected to begin giving evidence next month.