Koblenz court issues verdict in Eyad A. case
On 24 February, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany convicted former Syrian secret service agent Eyad A. of aiding and abetting 30 counts of crimes against humanity committed in the early months of the 2011 uprising and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison.
Eyad A. is convicted for his role in a violent attack against protesters in September 2011 in Douma, which resulted in the deprivation of liberty and subsequent torture of at least 30 civilians at Branch 251 of the General Intelligence Directorate, located in the Al-Khatib neighborhood of Damascus.
At the time of the incident, Eyad A. was a low-ranking officer in Sub-Division 40 which, while formally subordinate to Branch 251, acted autonomously under the leadership of Hafez Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. The sub-division was responsible for suppressing demonstrations and operated checkpoints throughout Damascus and its surroundings.
The verdict constitutes the first crimes against humanity conviction of a former member of the Syrian Regime. The court also found that the crimes Eyad A. is convicted of were committed as part of the Syrian government’s widespread and systematic attack against its civilian population. Further, Eyad A. knew and accepted that his conduct would result in the torture of civilians and that his conduct was part of a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population.
CIJA has supported the German Federal Police investigation of this case since 2017 and the prosecution since Eyad A.’s arrest in 2019. CIJA’s assistance came in the form of documentary evidence, witness as well as expert testimony. This assistance focused on the role and structure of both Branch 251 of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and Sub-Division 40.
The support provided by CIJA is based on original Regime documents as well as victim and insider witness accounts, secured by CIJA investigators in Syria. Of significant relevance to the. case were documents and insider witness accounts, confirming the position of Sub-Division 40 within the structure of Branch 251. In November 2020, CIJA’s Director of Operations and Investigations testified as an expert witness before the court in Koblenz. Over the course of the two-day testimony, CIJA provided a thorough contextual analysis of the Regime’s security-intelligence apparatus and its widespread and systematic use of torture in detention as well as of the role of Branch 251 and Sub-Division 40. The complex expert testimony included a courtroom presentation of over 60 slides summarising CIJA´s findings and evidence. A binder of CIJA documents was entered into evidence at the judges´ request following the testimony. These documents were read into record in subsequent days of the trials, including on the last day of the hearing.
Eyad A. was originally indicted and tried together with Anwar R., the former head of interrogations at Branch 251 of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate. Following ten months of hearings, the court formally severed the Eyad A. case on 17 February 2021. The trial of Anwar R. continues.
CIJA has been investigating crimes committed in Syria since 2012. Since then, its teams of Syrian investigators have amassed over 1,000,000 pages of Syrian regime documentation constituting the largest cache of documentary evidence ever secured in the course of an ongoing conflict. To date, CIJA’s analysts have answered close to 600 requests for assistance from public authorities concerning over 2,000 individual targets. CIJA is currently cooperating with 15 ongoing investigations and provides continuous support to 36 law enforcement agencies from 13 countries.
Links and Media
Selected Court Documents
Official Press Release, 24 February 2021
Selected Media Coverage
Reuters, “German arrest is first big catch for Syria investigators”, 13 February 2019
NPR, "Why Are Syrian War Crimes Being Prosecuted in Germany?", 24 September 2019
Al Jazeera, "Landmark trial against alleged Syrian war criminals: What next?", 30 April 2020
The Washington Post, "German court case is first to try Syrian regime for war crimes", 23 April 2020
JusticeInfo, "Syria Trial in Germany: The orders that came from the very top", 26 November 2020
JusticeInfo, “Koblenz, the First Syria State Crimes Trial in Europe”, 14 December 2020