Serious crimes affect the international community as a whole and must not go unpunished. It is therefore also the responsibility of national jurisdictions in third countries such as Germany to investigate and prosecute serious crimes in Syria. 

The German Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCAIL), which entered into force in 2002 and was reformed in 2024, enables German courts to prosecute international crimes committed in Syria. Through the CCAIL, Germany adapted its national criminal code to the standards of international criminal law, in particular those established by the Rome Statute of the ICC. 

The principle of universal jurisdiction enshrined in the CCAIL constitutes the legal basis for the prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes by German courts. According to the CCAIL, the Federal Public Prosecutor (GBA) can investigate international crimes, even if they were committed outside of Germany. This means that jurisdiction of the courts is independent from the location of the crime, as well as from the nationality of its victim or perpetrator. 

Since 2011, the Federal Public Prosecutor has been conducting several person-specific investigations into the crimes committed in Syria, as well as a structural investigation, which addresses larger clusters of crimes in the country beyond individual cases. The series of criminal complaints on torture in Syria, which ECCHR has filed together with almost 100 Syrian torture survivors, relatives, activists and lawyers in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Norway since 2017, also have contributed to the investigations. These investigations were the basis for the so-called al-Khatib trial, the first trial worldwide on state torture in Syria.

In the German legal system, a criminal complaint is technically a means of reporting an assessment of facts (an alleged criminal offense). It is then the task of the investigating authorities to identify the suspects who may be responsible for the offense. 

The criminal complaints that ECCHR has filed together with the complainants from Syria concern, among other things, the crime of systematic torture in detention centers run by the Syrian secret services and military police. Systematic torture qualifies as a war crime and a crime against humanity under the Code of Crimes Against International Law.

The complaints are directed against numerous known and unknown members of the Syrian military intelligence services and the Syrian government, who are presumed to be responsible for the crimes reported.

Even though high-ranking members of the regime have been convicted – in some cases in absentia (France) – numerous other suspects continue to live undisturbed. We want to change this with our renewed criminal complaint, filed together with our partner organization Caesar Families Association (CFA). 

As President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar al-Assad is at the top of the pyramid of the military command chain. He has supreme control over the actions of all security and military institutions, including the four Syrian intelligence services, the Ministry of Defense and the National Security Bureau. This means that President Assad is undoubtedly responsible for crimes committed by these institutions.

As acting head of state, Assad is protected from prosecution in national courts of third countries. In Germany, he is granted international immunity ratione personae in accordance with Section 20 (2) GVG and Article 25 GG. This means that no criminal proceedings can currently be brought against him. Nevertheless, the GBA is also collecting evidence of possible crimes committed by Assad within the context of the structural investigation proceedings. These findings can be used when he is no longer president or if the ICC or a special tribunal on the Syrian conflict one day brings charges against Assad.

However, in May 2024, a Paris court of appeal decided to uphold a (French) arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad. In the corresponding proceedings, Assad is to be held accountable for the use of chemical weapons against his own population. The Paris court considered such an act to be outside the purview of a head of state’s activities and denied him immunity in this case. 

Our criminal complaints are based on the testimonies of family members of disappeared persons, who, at great personal risk, have been searching for their relatives – among them numerous women, as well as men – in various “branches” (detention centers) of the Syrian secret services and military police. In addition, the photos and metadata of the Caesar photographs are of unique value for possible investigations.

In addition to the statements of those affected, publicly available documents and reports serve as sources for this criminal complaint. Many of the crimes in Syria, including torture, have been carefully documented over the years by international and Syrian human rights organizations. Taken as a whole, the statements of survivors and witnesses, official documents, and pictures of victims and crime scenes prove that the Syrian regime is guilty of systematic crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Koblenz Higher Regional Court arrived at the same conclusion in the al-Khatib trial. The verdicts against Eyad A. and Anwar R. are now legally binding.

Arrest warrants against those responsible for systematic repression and torture under Assad would be an important signal for survivors, relatives of those affected, and those still detained in the prisons of the Assad regime.

The fact that the German Federal Prosecutor opened investigations focusing on Jamil Hassan as a specific Syrian officials concerning international crimes in Syria, and the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) issued an international arrest warrant, is a milestone and represents an important step towards ending impunity for torture in Syria.

Like Jamil Hassan, most of the high-ranking officials responsible for torture and other human rights violations in Syria still live in the country. But if they are subject to an international arrest warrant and were to travel outside Syria, they can be arrested and extradited to Germany. Germany could then file charges and open criminal proceedings.

The case of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet shows that international arrest warrants against high-profile politicians and military figures are possible and effective. In 1998, the Spanish investigative judge Baltasar Garzón issued an international arrest warrant against Pinochet for genocide and other crimes. While Pinochet was visiting London, he was arrested by Scotland Yard and his extradition to Spain was approved by the then Home Secretary Jack Straw. The Chilean government negotiated that he be freed on humanitarian grounds, but Pinochet's arrest in London ultimately triggered a broader process of legal reckoning with the crimes of the dictatorship in Chile.

Absolute impunity continues to prevail in Syria, with no prospect of prosecuting perpetrators from the ranks of the Assad regime in the foreseeable future.

Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), international criminal justice fundamentally has the power to bring war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide before this same court in The Hague. However, there is currently little chance that the crimes in Syria will be prosecuted by the ICC. This is due to the fact that the court cannot take action because, on the one hand, Syria is not a state party to the Rome Statute and, on the other, Russia is blocking a referral to the ICC by the UN Security Council.

Nonetheless, the UN Human Rights Council has set up an independent commission of inquiry into Syria. The investigators have been collecting evidence against all parties to the conflict for more than 12 years. They conduct their work in the neighboring states of Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The information provided by the UN Commission is indispensable for any future legal assessment of the situation in Syria.

In December 2016, the UN General Assembly also initiated the “International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of those Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under the International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011,” or IIIM for short.

In cases of criminal prosecution in a third country, a criminal complaint is often the first step toward an investigation. A complaint is intended to draw the attention of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (GBA) to a specific situation or act which, in the view of the complainant, constitutes a criminal offense – i.e. it may be a crime.

The GBA is already investigating, collecting and securing evidence in various structural proceedings concerning Syria. In person-specific proceedings, however, the focus is mostly on low-ranking perpetrators, as they can often be found in Europe and, thus, be brought to justice. With ECCHR's criminal complaints, the aim is to get the GBA to investigate specific individuals who hold or have held leading positions in the Syrian secret services and military police, and obtain arrest warrants for them from the Federal Court of Justice.

In May 2018, this approach was successful. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) issued an international arrest warrant against Jamil Hassan, who until July 2019 was head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Service.

In order to address the systematic and widespread human rights violations in Syria, further legal interventions must follow – against the Assad government, against transnational corporations, against the states that intervene militarily in the conflict, and against armed groups such as IS.

Without justice for those affected by the crimes in Syria, there will be no political solution to the conflict. Legally addressing human rights crimes is indispensable. It is also of lasting significance in the establishment of a constitutional and democratic society in the aftermath of the war in Syria.

Topics for potential further legal action include the supply of conventional weapons, other armaments, or surveillance technology to the parties to the conflict, as well as targeted sexual violence against women and the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The primary goal of submitting criminal complaints is to initiate further person-related investigations, which will legally address the described crimes in a dignified way.

The investigations initiated by the Federal Public Prosecutor in 2011 were an important first step. Seven years later, however, it is time to take further steps: the German judiciary should not focus on low-rank perpetrators, but must investigate the acts of those officials who bear the actual responsibility for the crimes. Even though those officials are still in Syria, certain steps can be taken, e.g. by issuing international arrest warrants like the one for Jamil Hassan. To take these steps, the Federal Public Prosecutor and the Courts should be given additional resources by the state. There is a growing need for educated investigators and better protection for witnesses.