AMN/ WEB DESK
A court has sentenced a former Syrian intelligence officer to four-and-a-half years in jail today for complicity in crimes against humanity in Germany.
The 44-year-old Eyad A. is accused of rounding up people following anti-government demonstrations in the Syrian city of Douma in 2011 and delivering them to a detention center where they were tortured.
It is the first ever trial over alleged atrocities committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Eyad A. defected in 2012 and fled Syria a year later. He arrived in Germany in 2018 where he was recognized by his alleged victims, several of whom had come to Germany as refugees.
He was arrested in 2019, along with a more senior ex-Syrian official, who is also on trial in Germany.