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Koblenz (dpa) - In the German province, a historical court judgment with international significance is expected this Wednesday.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the first criminal case worldwide for state torture in Syria, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Koblenz wants to announce a decision in the case of one of the two defendants.
The Syrian Eyad A. is in the dock for alleged complicity in a crime against humanity.
The 44-year-old is accused of having brought at least 30 Arab Spring demonstrators to a torture prison in the capital Damascus in Syria in autumn 2011 as an agent of the state's general secret service.
The OLG recently separated its proceedings.
With him, the taking of evidence is ready for a decision.
Against the Syrian main defendant Anwar R. (58), the internationally recognized process that began in April 2020 is to continue.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses the alleged interrogator in the same prison for crimes against humanity in 2011 and 2012.
She accuses him of 58 murders and responsibility for torturing at least 4,000 people.
At the beginning of the trial, the former colonel initially denied these allegations.
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For the younger defendant Eyad A., who had roughly the rank of sergeant major, the federal prosecutor demanded five and a half years in prison.
The defense pleaded for acquittal because of an apologetic emergency: if the Syrian agent refused to take orders, he would have been killed and if he deserted he would have been threatened with execution.
The 44-year-old helped arrest protesters against the Assad regime, but did not obey a superior's orders to shoot them.
The international law principle in international criminal law makes it possible to prosecute possible war crimes committed by foreigners in other countries.
Anwar R. and Eyad A. were recognized by alleged victims after their escape in Germany and arrested in Berlin and Zweibrücken in 2019.
The human rights organization “European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights” (ECCHR) is hoping for a signal effect from a first judgment against an employee of the Syrian secret service for state torture.
Your lawyer Patrick Kroker expects in his own words about four to five years imprisonment.
A judgment is something else than the already very informative taking of evidence.
Numerous Syrian witnesses - including many survivors of torture - had given very clear testimony.
For example, you would have described the torture prison from the inside and the daily pouring of corpses into mass graves.
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The 104-page indictment is also based on many victim witnesses.
At the start of the trial in April 2020, Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) referred to the historical dimension of the trial against alleged Syrian war criminals: “For the first time, thousands of terrible tortures and ill-treatment are being prosecuted in an independent court in Germany.
The clear message emanates from this: War criminals must not feel safe anywhere. "
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210222-99-538004 / 2
Original communication from the OLG Koblenz from March 10th, 2020