On Tuesday morning, German authorities (Public Prosecutor General’s office in Germany) arrested Anwar R. (56) and Eyad A. (42) on charges of torturing detainees while they were Syrian intelligence officers in 2011-2012. The initial details of the arrest state that the former is responsible for the torture of several detainees and the latter for complicity in the arrest and torture of many opponents in Syria, according to a complaint filed to the German Public Prosecutor by four people who had been tortured.

 

Colonel Anwar R. was the deputy head of the investigation branch of the General Intelligence Directorate in Syria and operated under the command of Brigadier General Hafez Makhlouf.

Officer Eyad A. was tasked to carry out raids and arrests.

 

The investigating judge of the federal court  began his investigations and ordered pre-trial detention.

 

On the same day in France, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced the arrest of a Syrian man involved in “crimes of torture and crimes against humanity”, a 30-year-old detainee who had worked for the Syrian intelligence services between 2011 and 2013.

 

The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) has been working with international and Syrian actors keen on holding perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria accountable and holds the conviction that they will eventually be brought to fair trials.