Definition
Crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are grave violations of international law carried out against a civilian population in a systematic or widespread way.
Show MoreIn June 2020, the German police arrested Alaa M, who has since been held in detention awaiting trial. The reason: strong suspicion of complicity in crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian regime since 2011. Approximately one year after his arrest, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had filed charges against M, a former Syrian doctor who allegedly tortured, killed and sexually abused people in military hospitals.
In January 2022, the trial against Alaa M began in the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court, with an ECCHR partner lawyer representing a joint plaintiff. Just one week earlier, former Syrian officer Anwar R had been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity in the world’s first trial on state torture in Syria, in which ECCHR supported torture survivors.
Alaa M is alleged to have participated in sexual violence and the torture and killing of Syrian civilians while working as a doctor in the military hospital No. 608 in Homs, in the notorious military hospital Mezzeh No. 601 in Damascus – where the so-called Caesar photos were taken – and in the prison of Branch 261 of the Military Intelligence Services in Homs.
This case clearly demonstrates that the systematic violence of the Syrian regime against the civilian population does not only take place within detention facilities. Evidence of the role of military hospitals in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s apparatus of injustice was initially provided by the Caesar photos: the images, taken by a Syrian military photographer who defected and then brought them out of the country, reveal thousands of corpses, often with obvious signs of torture. A large portion of the photographs were proven to have been taken in military hospitals within and in the vicinity of Damascus, and they already played a significant role in the so-called al-Khatib trial.
The trial of Alaa M may also prove to be an important step in addressing crimes of sexual violence. The federal prosecution, for example, is also accusing Alaa M of injuring the genitalia of a boy and an adult man so severely that, according to the indictment, this constitutes a deliberate attempt to deprive them of the ability to reproduce.
Germany has assumed a pioneering role in addressing such crimes at least since the start of the al-Khatib proceedings in the Koblenz Higher Regional Court. In addition, German law enforcement authorities issued an arrest warrant for ex-Air Force Intelligence chief Jamil Hassan. The German authorities have succeeded in handling these highly complex cases in part through so-called structural investigation procedures, to which many Syrian survivors, activists, lawyers and organizations such as ECCHR have also contributed. In addition, Germany applies the principle of universal jurisdiction, according to which the most serious crimes against humanity can be prosecuted even when they have no direct connection to Germany.
In total, ECCHR has filed seven criminal complaints concerning the crimes of the Assad regime with investigative authorities in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Austria.
Crimes against humanity are grave violations of international law carried out against a civilian population in a systematic or widespread way.
Show MoreA criminal complaint provides prosecutory authorities with information on a potential crime.
Show MoreThe Office of the German Federal Public Prosecutor is Germany’s highest prosecutory authority.
Show MoreSexual violence is defined as a violent act of a sexual nature. It is the deliberate exertion of power over another person, not an act of lust.
Show MoreA structural investigation examines a suspected criminal act but without yet looking into specific potential perpetrators.
Show MoreThe principle of universal jurisdiction provides for a state’s jurisdiction over crimes against international law even when the crimes did not occur on that state's territory.
Show MoreCrimes against humanity are grave violations of international law carried out against a civilian population in a systematic or widespread way.
Show MoreCrimes against humanity – defined as a systematic attack on a civilian population – tend to be planned or at least condoned by state authorities: heads of government, senior officials or military leaders. In some cases, companies also play a direct or indirect role in their perpetration.
Show MoreRape, sexual assault, forced pregnancy and sexual slavery: these are all sexual violence. In repressive regimes and armed conflict, the military, secret services and police often use these and similar methods as part of their strategy to oppress the civilian population.
Show MoreTorture, executions and disappearances of civilians and indiscriminate bombings are only some of the crimes committed in Syria since 2011. ECCHR has been tackling crimes committed by all parties of the conflict since 2012 and is working with an international network.
Show MoreThe law is clear: torture is prohibited under any circumstances. Whoever commits, orders or approves acts of torture should be prosecuted. This is set out in the UN Convention against Torture which has been ratified by 146 states.
Show MoreCrimes against humanity – defined as a systematic attack on a civilian population – tend to be planned or at least condoned by state authorities: heads of government, senior officials or military leaders. In some cases, companies also play a direct or indirect role in their perpetration.
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