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A German regional court sentenced a former Syrian doctor to life in prison Monday for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and murder.
The Syrian national, Alaa M., had been actively involved in the Assad regime’s crackdown on opposition members. According to the judgment, he tortured and sexually abused his patients in this context, killing two. The judgment by the Oberlandgericht (OLG) of Frankfurt is not yet legally binding, as the defense has announced plans to lodge a final appeal.
Alaa M. was convicted of crimes against humanity in a total of 10 cases, eight concerning torture. The court detailed the defendant’s actions as inflicting severe pain with various objects, performing surgery without narcosis and mutilating patients’ genital areas by setting them alight, which additionally amounted to an attempt of forced sterilization.
The court found he killed one of his victims by lethal injection with the intent to deter other opposition members, which the court classified as a “base motive” (”niedriger Beweggrund”) and accordingly deemed the act murder. In a second case, Alaa M. omitted treatment of an epileptic patient and prescribed the patient a lethal pill, which fulfilled the criteria for homicide under German penal law.
The convictions rest on the basis of national criminal law as well as international criminal law, which is also codified in Germany’s national legislation. The two regimes apply side-by-side to address different offenses and offer multiple layers of legal protection. The court found Alaa M. guilty of crimes against humanity (Art. 7 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court) as his acts contributed to the widespread assault of the civilian population by the Assad regime, of which the defendant was knowledgeable. The doctor is said to have perceived his victims as opposition members and many violations occurred in a hospital wing reserved for members of the opposition.
Two of the acts, the court ruled, additionally fulfilled the criteria for war crimes (Art. 8 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court) because they were committed in a prison of the military secret service and in the context of non-international armed conflict. These war crimes provide an additional layer of criminal responsibility for violations against the wounded and sick, as well as civilians in the power of another party, all of whom retain protection under international humanitarian law.
The international dimension of the case triggered the principle of universal jurisdiction, which awarded the court jurisdiction to rule on the matter without a territorial or national link. Under customary international law, universal jurisdiction allows national courts to rule on international crimes without a formal connection to the country of original jurisdiction. The principle has recently gained relevance as the International Criminal Court (ICC) faces enforcement issues regarding crimes committed in Syria. This is largely due to Russia and China vetoing a 2014 UN Security Council Resolution to refer cases springing from the national conflict to the ICC.
While these acts triggered a concurrence of offenses, and the guilt for each crime is determined individually, the court bundled each conviction into one sentence. Based on evidence gathered by over 50 witnesses, including multiple former colleagues of the defendant, the court handed down a life sentence without parole, as well as security detention. The defense announced plans to lodge an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice, arguing that the evidence was inconclusive and contradictory.
The first conviction on crimes relating to the Syrian Civil War were handed down in 2021 by another regional German court on the basis of universal jurisdiction. During the 14-year rule of Bashir al-Assad, who was ousted in December 2024, an estimated 100,000 people died in government-run prisons in Syria.
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The Syrian national, Alaa M., had been actively involved in the Assad regime’s crackdown on opposition members. According to the judgment, he tortured and sexually abused his patients in this context, killing two. The judgment by the Oberlandgericht (OLG) of Frankfurt is not yet legally binding, as the defense has announced plans to lodge a final appeal.
Alaa M. was convicted of crimes against humanity in a total of 10 cases, eight concerning torture. The court detailed the defendant’s actions as inflicting severe pain with various objects, performing surgery without narcosis and mutilating patients’ genital areas by setting them alight, which additionally amounted to an attempt of forced sterilization.
The court found he killed one of his victims by lethal injection with the intent to deter other opposition members, which the court classified as a “base motive” (”niedriger Beweggrund”) and accordingly deemed the act murder. In a second case, Alaa M. omitted treatment of an epileptic patient and prescribed the patient a lethal pill, which fulfilled the criteria for homicide under German penal law.
The convictions rest on the basis of national criminal law as well as international criminal law, which is also codified in Germany’s national legislation. The two regimes apply side-by-side to address different offenses and offer multiple layers of legal protection. The court found Alaa M. guilty of crimes against humanity (Art. 7 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court) as his acts contributed to the widespread assault of the civilian population by the Assad regime, of which the defendant was knowledgeable. The doctor is said to have perceived his victims as opposition members and many violations occurred in a hospital wing reserved for members of the opposition.
Two of the acts, the court ruled, additionally fulfilled the criteria for war crimes (Art. 8 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court) because they were committed in a prison of the military secret service and in the context of non-international armed conflict. These war crimes provide an additional layer of criminal responsibility for violations against the wounded and sick, as well as civilians in the power of another party, all of whom retain protection under international humanitarian law.
The international dimension of the case triggered the principle of universal jurisdiction, which awarded the court jurisdiction to rule on the matter without a territorial or national link. Under customary international law, universal jurisdiction allows national courts to rule on international crimes without a formal connection to the country of original jurisdiction. The principle has recently gained relevance as the International Criminal Court (ICC) faces enforcement issues regarding crimes committed in Syria. This is largely due to Russia and China vetoing a 2014 UN Security Council Resolution to refer cases springing from the national conflict to the ICC.
While these acts triggered a concurrence of offenses, and the guilt for each crime is determined individually, the court bundled each conviction into one sentence. Based on evidence gathered by over 50 witnesses, including multiple former colleagues of the defendant, the court handed down a life sentence without parole, as well as security detention. The defense announced plans to lodge an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice, arguing that the evidence was inconclusive and contradictory.
The first conviction on crimes relating to the Syrian Civil War were handed down in 2021 by another regional German court on the basis of universal jurisdiction. During the 14-year rule of Bashir al-Assad, who was ousted in December 2024, an estimated 100,000 people died in government-run prisons in Syria.
The post German court sentences Syrian doctor for crimes against humanity and war crimes appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.