9 Syrian Officials Are Accused of Torture in Spanish Court

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/europe/spain-syria-torture-case.html

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International lawyers have filed a criminal complaint against nine Syrian security and intelligence officials in a Spanish court, accusing them of torture and other human rights violations. It is the first case specifically citing members of Syria’s government to be heard in a Western court.

The names of the officials have not been made public, because prosecutors hope this will improve their chances of apprehending the officials outside Syria if arrest warrants are issued. The lawyers who filed the complaint on Wednesday said the defendants included senior officers who ran a torture center in Damascus, Syria’s capital, in 2013 and leaders of the Syrian intelligence and security services, who are part of President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle.

The court, Spain’s National Court, has previously taken up international human rights cases in Latin America, most notably when it ordered the arrest of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, while he was visiting London. Mr. Pinochet was kept under house arrest in Britain for 18 months until he was released because of poor health.

In the Syrian case, the court has received 3,600 pages of evidence, including signed orders, detailing acts of brutality that the lawyers say will link senior Syrian officials to atrocities, torture and executions in government prisons and military-run hospitals.

But the case will be focused narrowly on the misfortunes of one Syrian man whose sister moved to Spain and became a Spanish citizen. The lawyers argue that her citizenship allows the Madrid court to take the case because she can also be considered a victim.

Her brother, a van driver who earned a living supplying grocery stores, was 43 when he disappeared in Syria in 2013. He was last seen alive in a military-run prison. Images of his emaciated body, with burn marks, were found among more than 50,000 post-mortem photographs taken by the police and smuggled out of Syria.

Almudena Bernabeu, an international human rights lawyer who is leading the legal team, asked journalists to withhold the names of the victim and his sister to protect his widow, children and other family members who are still in Syria.

The lawyers said they had drawn on many sources, including archives compiled by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, an independent documentation center based in Europe and funded by several governments.

Criminal cases related to the Syrian conflict are being prepared in several other European countries, including France and Germany. National courts are currently the only legal avenues for such cases. The International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction over Syria because the country is not a member. Russia has blocked efforts by the United Nations Security Council to give the court jurisdiction.