A former senior Syrian navy official, who’s accused of committing warfare crimes throughout the civil warfare, appeared earlier than a court docket in Sweden’s capital Stockholm on Monday.
Former brigadier basic Mohammed Hamo, 65 who lives in Sweden, is accused of “aiding and abetting” warfare crimes and will get a life jail sentence.
The warfare between President Bashar Assad’s regime and opposition teams erupted after the federal government repressed peaceable pro-democracy protests in 2011.
It has killed greater than half 1,000,000 folks, displaced tens of millions, and ravaged Syria’s financial system and infrastructure.
Wearing a darkish blue shirt, denims and sneakers, Hamo listened fastidiously and took notes as prosecutor Karolina Wieslander learn out the costs.
Wieslander mentioned Hamo had contributed – by means of “advice and action” – to the Syrian military’s warfare, which “systematically included attacks carried out in violation of the principles of distinction, caution and proportionality.”
“The warfare was thus indiscriminate,” Wieslander advised the court docket.
The expenses concern the interval of Jan. 1 to July 20, 2012. The trial is predicted to final till late May.
‘Disproportionate’
The prosecutor mentioned the Syrian military’s “widespread air and ground attacks” brought about harm “at a scale that was disproportionate in view of the concrete and immediate general military advantages that could be expected to be achieved.”
In his position as brigadier basic and head of an armament division, Hamo allegedly helped coordinate the provision of arms and ammunition to items.
Hamo’s lawyer, Mari Kilman, advised the court docket her consumer denied legal duty and had not proven “intent” to contribute to “indiscriminate warfare” by others, Kilman mentioned.
Kilman mentioned the officer couldn’t be held answerable for the actions “as he had acted in a military context and had to follow orders.”
Hamo additionally denied all particular person expenses and argued that Syrian legislation ought to be utilized.
Several plaintiffs are to testify on the trial, together with Syrians from cities that had been attacked and a British photographer who was injured throughout one strike.
‘Impunity’
“This trial is the first in a European Court to concern the conduct of hostilities and more specifically, indiscriminate attacks by the Syrian army,” Aida Samani, senior authorized advisor at rights group Civil Rights Defenders, advised AFP on the morning of the trial.
Samani added that “thousands of civilians were killed, harmed and had their houses destroyed” in these assaults.
“Yet those attacks all happened with impunity. There’s never been a trial where these, the victims of these attacks, have had the chance to address what happened and have what happened recognized by an independent court of law,” Samani mentioned.
The prosecution went on to spend a lot of the primary day outlining the background of the battle and exhibiting reviews to point that the civil warfare had begun on the time in query, a prerequisite for the actions to be tried as warfare crimes.
Hamo is the highest-ranking navy official to go on trial in Europe, although different international locations have tried to carry expenses towards extra senior members.
In March, Swiss prosecutors charged Rifaat Assad, an uncle of President Bashar Assad, with warfare crimes and crimes towards humanity.
However, it stays unlikely Rifaat Assad – who just lately returned to Syria after 37 years in exile – will present up for the trial, for which a date has but to be set.
Swiss legislation permits for trials in absentia underneath sure situations.
In November, France issued a world arrest warrant for Bashar Assad, accusing him of complicity in crimes towards humanity and warfare crimes over chemical assaults in 2013.
Three different worldwide warrants had been additionally issued for the arrests of Bashar Assad’s brother Maher, the de-facto chief of the military’s elite Fourth Division and two generals.
In January 2022, a German court docket sentenced former colonel Anwar Raslan to life in jail for crimes towards humanity. That was the primary worldwide trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria and was hailed by victims as a victory for justice.
Source: www.dailysabah.com