New criminal complaint filed against Syrian regime officials by relatives of victims

On 23 September 2024, the bereaved families of victims of the Syrian secret service filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Public Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe. They were supported by the Caesar Family Association (CFA) and ECCHR. The complaint concerns murder, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and torture in four cases. It is directed against high-ranking officials of the Syrian regime for crimes against humanity. Among them are: Jamil Hassan, former head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Service; Ali Mamlouk, former intelligence chief and Assad advisor; Abd Al-Fatah Qudsiyah, former head of the Military Intelligence Service and deputy head of the National Security Bureau; Rafiq Shahadah, former head of the Military Intelligence Service; and Ghassan Jaoudat Ismail, former deputy head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Service and, since 2019, its head and thus successor to Jamil Hassan. The relatives were able to identify their slain family members using the so-called Caesar photos. The Caesar Families Association is the first victims’ organization to join the existing efforts to come to terms with the atrocities committed. 

The four victims were arrested by Syrian regime forces at various locations in Syria and detained in secret service torture prisons in 2012 and 2013. All attempts by relatives to obtain information concerning the whereabouts of the disappeared and to take action against their arbitrary detention were unsuccessful. Only the Caesar photos could confirm that they had been murdered: through them, the bereaved were able to identify the bodies of their relatives. The four cases are emblematic of the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime, which continue to this day.

“This complaint is not just for our loved ones. It is a step towards justice for all Syrians and a new path to exposing the systematic and cruel methods of the Syrian regime. The crimes against our loved ones have happened and continue to happen to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Syrians. Therefore, we urge the German public prosecutor to accept this case as a continuation of its legal journey in uncovering the systematic crimes of the regime, as seen in the Koblenz and Frankfurt trials. I want justice for my siblings. I want justice for all Syrians,” says Yasmen Almashan, founding member of the CFA and complainant.

The Caesar photos consist of 26,938 high-resolution photographs, 6,821 of which contain images of corpses from Syrian prisons. At great personal risk, they were taken by a former Syrian military photographer, known by the pseudonym “Caesar,” and smuggled out of the country. Since then, they have served as important evidence for investigations into human rights abuses committed under Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad: for example, in the al-Khatib trial before the Koblenz Higher Regional Court; in the ongoing trial against the Syrian doctor Alaa M., who is accused of torture before the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court; in connection with the arrest warrant issued by the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe against the former head of the air force secret service, Jamil Hassan; or in ongoing investigations in Sweden and Norway. 

With this latest criminal complaint, ECCHR is renewing the request to the Federal Public Prosecutor General to initiate comprehensive investigations into those responsible in the Syrian regime for crimes against humanity. The relatives of those killed demand and deserve a prominent position in these investigations.

Caesar quote

The legal investigation into human rights violations in Syria is progressing internationally in a piecemeal fashion. In May 2024, for example, Jamil Hassan, Ali Mamluk and Abdel Salam Mahmoud were sentenced to life imprisonment in a trial in Paris in the absence of the accused. Nevertheless, almost all crimes remain unpunished to this day.

“The four complainants have still not received justice for the fate of their murdered relatives. The investigations must therefore continue, and further arrest warrants must be issued for the perpetrators. What’s more, the Assad regime continues to systematically commit serious human rights crimes. Deportations to Syria and any cooperation with Assad – a regime that systematically enforces disappearances, tortures and murders – are therefore prohibited,” says Helena Krüger, legal advisor at ECCHR.

ECCHR has been working intensively on investigating international crimes in Syria. You can find out more about the case and ECCHR’s work on accountability and justice for crimes committed by the Syrian regime here.