The Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt sentenced a Syrian doctor to life imprisonment after being convicted of committing acts of torture and war crimes in Syria. The court stated that the severity of the crimes excludes the possibility of his release after 15 years.
Frankfurt’s investigative authorities accused the defendant of killing and severely torturing eight Syrians during 2011 and 2012, causing the deaths of two individuals and inflicting serious physical and psychological harm on nine others. The defendant, who served as an assistant orthopedic surgeon at military hospitals in Syria, allegedly tortured civilians who opposed the Assad regime.
Investigations conducted in Germany confirmed that the defendant committed acts of brutal torture against detainees who opposed the Assad regime. He performed surgeries with insufficient anesthesia and physically assaulted prisoners by beating and kicking them. He also poured flammable substances on individuals and set them on fire. In one case, he killed a prisoner who resisted the torture by administering a lethal injection. According to an expert witness, the 40-year-old Syrian doctor exhibited sadistic tendencies.
The defendant has been living in Germany for ten years and worked as an orthopedic surgeon in several clinics, including one in Bad Wildungen, Hesse. In 2020, he was arrested by authorities after a Syrian immigrant filed a report against him, having recognized him in a documentary filmed in the city of Homs, Syria. He was subsequently investigated and brought to trial under the principle of universal jurisdiction applied by the German judiciary.
The defendant remained in pretrial detention until his trial commenced in January 2022. The Federal Public Prosecutor called for a life sentence, while the defense lawyers argued for his acquittal, claiming he was not present in Homs during the period when the alleged crimes took place. The defendant maintained that he was the target of a conspiracy. Notably, the investigation lasted nearly three years, and the trial spanned 186 days.
