German court convicts ex-Syrian officer of crimes against humanity
Anwar Raslan is the highest-ranking former Syrian government official to be tried for crimes committed in Syria's civil war.
A German court has convicted a former Syrian intelligence officer of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison in a historic verdict that represents a small but significant step toward holding the regime of President Bashar al-Assad accountable for state-sponsored torture.
Anwar Raslan, a 58-year-old former colonel in the Syrian army, is the highest-ranking government official to be put on trial for crimes committed during Syria’s decade-long civil war.
On Thursday, a court in the western German city of Koblenz found Raslan guilty of overseeing the murder of at least 27 people at the notorious military intelligence prison in Damascus, known as Branch 251, between 2011 and 2012. He denied participating in torture.
Raslan ultimately defected and fled Syria in the early years of the civil war before later entering Germany as an asylum seeker. Federal police arrested him in February 2019 as part of a coordinated effort between French and German authorities.
