Former Syrian officer sentenced to prison over war crimes

In a historical move, a German court has sentenced a former Syrian officer to prison for war crimes. The court decided to send the officer, Eyad al-Gharib to prison to serve an almost five years sentence for his part in the war crimes that happened in Syria. 

According to prosecutors, part of his charges involved moving up to 30 detained protesters to be tortured in prison. The prosecutors added that the detained protesters were beaten and tortured on their way to the prison.

He was sentenced under the laws of universal jurisdiction

Eyad al-Gharib was arrested with his senior commandant, colonel Anwar Raslam early 2019. They were both taken to trial under the "principle of universal jurisdiction" which grants local courts the right to reside over international war crimes that are not directly tied to their country. 

The former Syrian officers left the Syrian rule in 2012. The judge of their case, Anne Kerber, announced her decision concerning the fate of Eyad al-Gharib earlier this week. 

Radlan is still on trial over charges that are longer than his subordinate. He is on trial for directing the maiming of more than 4,000 prisoners during protests in Syria. Under his watch, many deaths, sexual assaults, and physical assaults occurred to the prisoners. 

The Syrian president has been accused of committing crimes against humanity 

The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad's has been continuously accused by human rights activists of committing many war crimes against his citizens. Several endeavors to investigate the claims by the UN have been blocked by Russia and China.

Many Syrian officials and the president himself have said the claims are false, adding that their focus is on maintaining peace on Syria's soil. A former detainee of Raslan told the press that the court's decision was like a beacon of hope to  Syrians. 

The Court's decision was hailed as "historic" by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), whose employees assisted the court in providing video proof of the accused soldiers' actions.