Germany has convicted several Assad government officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for trials regardless of where the offenses were committed.
German ministers on Sunday said supporters of fallen president Bashar al-Assad’s government would face justice in Germany if they fled to the country after the toppling of the Syrian strongman.
“We will hold all of the regime’s henchmen to account for their terrible crimes with the full force of the law,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the weekly Bild am Sonntag.
“If henchmen of Assad’s terror regime try to flee to Germany, they must know that hardly any other state pursues their crimes as harshly as Germany,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the same publication.No one who has participated in atrocities is safe from prosecution here,” Faeser added.
“It is now particularly important for international security authorities and intelligence services to work together as closely as possible,” Baerbock said.
Germany has convicted several Assad government officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for trials regardless of where the offenses were committed.
In January 2022, Germany sentenced former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan to life imprisonment in the first international trial for state-backed torture in Syria’s prisons.
One year later, in February 2023, a member of a government militia was sentenced to life in prison for war crimes while detained in Germany since 2021.
