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Koblenz, Germany – The last day of the world’s first criminal trial, which focused on war crimes in Syria, began much earlier than dawn. A small crowd began gathering at the gates of the courthouse in southwestern German city of Koblenz around 3 a.m., eager to secure their seats inside.
When Merlina Herbach and Hassan Kansour arrived at 4:30 am (03:30 GMT), it was still dark outside.
“We’ve been in every session for the last two years at trial,” Herbach explained. The couple are on trial at the Syrian Center for Justice and Responsibility. “We didn’t want to lose a seat.”
In 2019, German federal prosecutors accused former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan of complicity in crimes against humanity. To do this, they used the principle of universal jurisdiction, wherever countries like Germany could be prosecuted for war crimes.
Before leaving in 2012 and seeking asylum in Germany, Raslan was in charge of a Syrian secret service office in Damascus, Section 251. Thus, the prosecutor said he was complicit in torture, murder and sexual assault.
He is a senior judge convicted of atrocities in Syria.
Raslan’s trial began in April 2020 and ended this Thursday – 21 months, 108 hearings and more than 80 witnesses later.
By the time the sun began to rise, about 50 people, many of them Syrians, were queuing up to enter the courthouse. The women of the Syrian Campaign, a group of promoters, received photos of their loved ones who were still missing at home and had a small, cold sitting. A dozen groups of cameras filmed queues and protesters.
“I was a little worried when I arrived,” thought one of the seated members. “What if it was depressing? How will we all feel, both inside and outside Syria? ”
When the court hearing began around 10:30 a.m. (9:30 GMT), the courthouse was packed. All 36 seats in the gallery, separated by a clear plastic screen, were filled by citizens and journalists due to the pandemic. Approximately a dozen Syrian plaintiffs and their lawyers were also present.
Judge Anne Kerber, the head of the jury of five judges who heard the case, immediately announced that Raslan would be sentenced to life in prison. The judge then spent the next six hours explaining the reason behind the verdict, with the two translators repeating everything in Arabic.
Raslan said he was a “careerist in a totalitarian regime.” “But it wasn’t just a small gear in the regime’s apparatus.”
He knew what was going on in that prison and accepted it, Kerber told the court.
As a result, judges in the Regional High Court found the Syrian man guilty of being an accomplice of the Syrian government in the murders of 27 people and another 4,000 tortures, as well as sexual and physical violence and illegal detention. .
However, they were not found guilty in “exceptional circumstances”, which would not lead to parole.
“The crimes were committed a long time ago and he has not committed any crimes since then,” Judge Kerber said. “He helped some people [get out of the prison] and he treated others well. ‘
‘A first step’
After the verdict the mood of the court was more calm than joy.
“I’ve been working on it for two years and I’m relieved,” said Joumana Seif, a fellow at the European Center for Constitution and Human Rights, who has helped several survivors of torture. “Especially when I saw that the survivors were happy. It is a legal recognition of their pain and suffering. ”
“It’s the first step and something we can build on in the future,” said Musallam al-Quwatli, a survivor of psychological problems after being tortured in his 251st office in 2011.
At an outside press conference after the trial, the lawyers who helped the survivors also expressed their satisfaction with the need for more such cases. Raslan’s lawyers immediately lodged an appeal, as expected.
“It seemed fair to me. It restored my faith in justice, ”said Rowaida Kanaan, a journalist who has been jailed five times in Syria and a prosecutor.
Kannan said he hoped to see some reaction from Raslan himself. During the trial, the former light, bald and mustachioed commander was mostly relentless, leaning on his khaki jacket, taking notes on his own and even closing his eyes from time to time. He barely looked around.
“When the judge told him he was responsible for 27 murders, there was nothing. No reaction, ”Canaan said. “He was almost still in the same place, in the 251st branch, writing notes.”
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