For decades, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has systematically disappeared, tortured and killed thousands of civilians. Only the few who survive can share their experiences in secret service detention centers. German citizen Martin Lautwein was imprisoned by the Syrian Military Intelligence Service in 2018, and spent 48 days in detention. Now, with the support of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, he has joined a criminal complaint filed by Syrian torture survivors in Germany to help address the crimes committed in Syria.
“My German passport was the only reason I was allowed to return home,” said Lautwein. “Thousands of people have disappeared in Syria. Children, mothers and fathers were imprisoned with me. I was probably treated better in prison than all of them. Back in Germany, a warm bed, doctors and a functioning social welfare system were waiting for me. Now I want to use this privilege to make people outside Syria aware of what is happening there every day.”
Lautwein arrived in Syria in June 2018 to provide technical and humanitarian aid. He and a friend were arrested in the middle of the street in the northeastern city of Qamishli and taken to Branch 235, also called the Palestine Branch, in Damascus. Both were released thanks to diplomatic intervention. Because Lautwein was not blindfolded, he can provide a detailed account of the serious human rights crimes committed in prison, such as torture, sexual violence and inhuman living conditions.
“Martin Lautwein’s testimony can help address the crimes in Syria,” explained Patrick Kroker, head of ECCHR’s Syria team. “So far, witnesses have been able to report mainly on crimes that occurred before 2015. Lautwein’s case shows that the same conditions prevailed in 2018 – and presumably continue today. Germany must take this evidence seriously and act on it. The arrest warrant against Jamil Hassan and the al-Khatib trial in front of the Higher Regional Court in the German city of Koblenz are first steps. Further steps in this direction must follow, such as issuing arrest warrants for high-ranking members of Syrian intelligence services. Germany now has an even stronger case to join the Netherlands’ efforts to hold Syria accountable for torture at the International Court of Justice.”
In March 2017, seven Syrian torture survivors, the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Speech, and ECCHR filed a criminal complaint with the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which was later joined by the Caesar Files Group, five Syrian torture survivors, and now Martin Lautwein. The charges are directed against high-ranking Syrian Military Intelligence Service officials. Investigations in Germany led to the world’s first trial on state torture in Syria, which opened in Koblenz in April 2020.
“I hope that by speaking out about my experience, I can help the German justice system hold those responsible for human rights crimes to account,” said Lautwein. “We must take every possible approach to stop these crimes, investigate every person responsible, and hold them to account in a fair trial – with all the rights they deprive their victims of.”
