Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been sentenced to death in Iran, is a German citizen. For this reason alone, the German judiciary is obligated to investigate this case. His daughter Gazelle Sharmahd, with the support of ECCHR, filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Public Prosecutor (GBA) in Karlsruhe on 20 June 2023.
The complaint focuses on eight high-ranking members of the judiciary and intelligence services in Iran, including Abdolghassem Salavati (Presiding Judge of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court) and Mahmoud Alavi (Minister of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the time of Sharmahd’s abduction.
The criminal complaint is intended to initiate structural proceedings and further GBA investigations into Iran that extend beyond the scope of the Sharmahd case. The principle of universal jurisdiction allows the Federal Public Prosecutor in Germany to initiate investigations into unjust and repressive state structures in cases of crimes against humanity.