WASHINGTON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The conviction of Anwar Raslan, former Syrian intelligence officer, for crimes against humanity the previous month, as well as the ongoing prosecution of Dr. Alaa Mousa, are significant milestones forward in the struggle for justice for those who survived sexual abuse and torture in Bashar Assad’s jails.
Other than that, several survivors and human-rights groups argue that the two cases, which were heard in courts of Germany, have set a significant legal precedent for the international community, which now needs to put in more efforts to bring senior regime officials to justice for atrocities against Syrians.
American lawyer, Stephen Rapp, former US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice, and chair of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability’s Board of Commissioners, is putting together a case against the ruler of Syria and his inner circle for mass murder and torture.
Anwar Raslan’s conviction and Dr. Alaa Mousa’s trial in Germany gives him optimism that higher-ranking Syrian government officials will be brought to justice at some point, said Rapp. He had successfully prosecuted suspects of the 1994 Rwandan massacre.
There is a great deal of evidence accessible. Arresting them is the difficult part. More comprehensive tracking of such officials’ movements is required, as well as action coordinated among themselves by states to ensure the arrest and send the suspects when they are outside Syria, he added.
When a court in Koblenz gave a life sentence to 58-year-old Raslan, who is a former member of the General Intelligence Directorate of Syria, sought refuge in Germany in the year 2014, he became the senior-most former regime official to be convicted of crimes committed in Syria.
While serving as the chief of the investigations section at the Al-Khatib detention facility in Damascus, better known as “Branch 251,” German prosecutors accused Raslan of overseeing the death of 58 individuals and the torture of 4,000 others.
Thousands of images illicitly brought out of Syria by a military defector code-named “Caesar” supported witness testimony, which included well-documented accusations of torture and sexual assault in Branch 251. The images portray scenes of assault, murder and torture, in terrible detail.
Raslan was announced guilty of overseeing 27 killings and crimes against humanity on 13th Jan. He was sentenced to imprisonment for life.
The judgement is a significant step forward, but it doesn’t provide complete justice for the people of Syria, said a Syrian activist based in Germany, Ameenah Sawwan, to Arab News.
This is the start of a larger fight for victims’ justice and accountability. It’s crucial to note that the crimes against humanity that have been brought to attention in Alwar Raslan’s trial are still taking place everyday in Syria.
Alaa Mousa, a Syrian doctor, is accused of torturing and murdering patients while working at the military hospitals of the regime. He is accused of lighting the genitals of a teenage boy on fire and operating on inmates without anaesthetic, among other things.
Mousa is accused of abusing captives in Damascus and Homs, Syria, between 2011 and 2012. Additionally, according to federal prosecutors, he faces one count for allegedly administering a fatal injection to one of the prisoners who refused to be beaten and died.
In mid-2015, he moved to Germany on a skilled worker visa and practised medicine until he was arrested in June 2020, when witnesses from Syria came forward. All allegations were denied by him.
The “universal jurisdiction laws” of Germany set it apart from other European countries.
Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and Russia and China rejected a UN Security Council resolution in 2014 that would have given the court jurisdiction over severe crimes committed in Syria. Syrian survivors have an unique opportunity to seek justice in Germany’s courts.
