Germany warns members of fallen regime that they will be hunted down in the country

Several former executives of the Assad government have already been convicted by German courts, including a colonel.

German government ministers said on Sunday, December 15, that supporters of the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad would be brought to justice in Germany if their flight took them to this country. “We will hold all the regime’s henchmen accountable for their terrible crimes to the fullest extent of the law.”Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the weekly Picture on Sunday.

“If henchmen of the Assad regime of terror try to flee to Germany, they should know that virtually no other state pursues their crimes as harshly as Germany”declared Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, in the same newspaper. “Anyone who participated in atrocities is not immune from prosecution here”said the manager.

Germany has already convicted several Assad government officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows trials to be held regardless of where the offenses were committed. In January 2022, former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan was sentenced to life in prison in the world’s first trial for state-sanctioned torture in Syrian prisons. A year later, in February 2023 in Berlin, a member of a government militia arrested in Germany in 2021 was also sentenced to life in prison for war crimes.