Koblenz Court Issues Verdict in the Case of Anwar Raslan
On 13 January, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany found Anwar Raslan, a former colonel in the Syrian regime, guilty of co-perpetration of crimes against humanity in the form of torture, murder in 27 cases, assault in 25 cases, in addition to several counts of rape and sexual assault. The verdict carries a custodial sentence of life imprisonment. Raslan is so far the highest-ranking Syrian official convicted for crimes against humanity committed in the course of the Syrian conflict.
Raslan is convicted for his conduct as Head of Interrogations at Branch 251 of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate between April 2011 and September 2012. Insider witnesses have described the branch as the most effective, dangerous and secretive branch of General Intelligence.
The court’s decision constitutes a landmark judgement, the significance of which extends far beyond the specifics of the individual case. The court has found that the crimes under examination were committed as part of the Syrian government’s widespread and systematic attack against its civilian population, which began in the early days of the country’s 2011 popular uprising.
CIJA has assisted the German Federal Police investigation of this case since 2017 and the prosecution since Raslan's arrest in 2019. This assistance drew on CIJA’s unprecedented evidence archive, secured by its investigators in Syria, and came in the form of documentary evidence, insider witness interviews as well as expert testimony. Of particular relevance to the case were over 600 documents linked to Branch 251, including General Intelligence directives and interrogation reports, some bearing Raslan's signature, as well as 13 interviews with former Branch employees. Further, CIJA was able to provide authorities with documentation and insider witness interviews about Raslan’s tenure as Head of Interrogations at a different General Intelligence branch - Branch 285, where abuse and torture have been documented.
In November 2020, CIJA’s Director of Operations and Investigations testified as an expert witness before the court in Koblenz. In an extensive 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, the role of Branch 251 in suppressing dissent as well as Raslan’s individual criminal responsibility. The complex expert testimony drew on hundreds of CIJA-secured documents, which were entered into evidence at the request of the judges. In the course of over a hundred days of trial hearings, CIJA-secured evidence, analysis and testimony have been continuously referenced.
“This conviction is a critically important measure of justice for the survivors and victims of the Syrian regime. CIJA is honored to see its evidence was a foundational part of this historic conviction. As our investigators continue collecting evidence of Assad’s atrocities and tracking regime officials in Europe, we expect to see more such trials in the near future. Our thoughts are with our Syrian colleagues whose selfless work behind the scenes of the world’s most dangerous conflict continues to feed investigations and prosecutions in Europe.”
– Nerma Jelacic, CIJA Director for Management and External Relations
This is the second judgement addressing state-sponsored torture in Syria following the 2021 verdict in the case of Eyad, A, a former Syrian security-service agent and associate of Anwar Raslan at Branch 251, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting 30 counts of crimes against humanity committed in Damascus.
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 over 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.