Bochum, Germany – North-Press Agency
Human Rights centers and organizations in Europe are instructing the Syrian refugees on how to file complaints against those who had a hand in the humanitarian crimes committed in Syria, especially those who now reside in Europe and have presented themselves as refugees in an attempt to escape the justice.
This comes after many European courts have responded to cases filed by Syrians against some persons, who previously participated in torturing and killing people in Syria during the years of war.
The Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria (VDC-NSY) in cooperation with partner organizations in Germany, the Kurdish Center for Studies and the Kurdish Legal Commission, is organizing a series of training sessions with the Syrian refugees.
Through these sessions, the refugees are instructed on how to seek justice for the crimes committed in Syria before numerous courts in Europe. It also includes explaining the steps on how to file a complaint, the investigation procedures and the trial process, and the rights of victims and witnesses.
In this regard, Mustafa Abdi, the administrator of Violations Documentation Center in Northern Syria, said to North-Press: “Through these meetings and sessions, we are trying to help the Syrians by providing an opportunity to gain the basic information needed to file a complaint in Germany for a criminal case against the person who committed the crime or filed a civil suit for compensation and justice.
Organizing a series of such meetings with the Syrian refugees would help the Syrian victims who live in Europe in how to seek justice for crimes committed in Syria before national courts in the European countries, according to Abdi.
He pointed out that although the majority of the defendants are still inside Syria now, giving that they are from the conflicting parties, however, some of them are in the European countries who have submitted for asylum as any Syrian citizen fleeing the war, “and some of them were identified by their victims in previous incidents, whether officers in the Syrian government forces, the Islamic State group (ISIS), or from the Turkish-backed armed opposition groups or others.”
The first workshops for training the Syrian refugees began on the 16th of February in the city of Bochum, in Germany, as it is a well-known city that includes many Syrian communities in it, in addition to nearby cities such as Essen, Dortmund and other well-known cities, which are considered to be the places of residence for much of the Syrian refugees in Germany.
For his part, the lawyer and member of the Kurdish Legal Commission, Hussein Naasso, who works as a legal guide for the Syrian refugees in these sessions, told North Press: “Certainly, the individual and personal efforts can play a large and effective role in exposing the persons who were involved in the violations and atrocities against the Syrian civilians, and collecting evidence and proofs, which condemn them, whether through workplaces, housing, language courses, or through social media and other means, and then reporting on them to the specialized authorities in the European countries”, he said.
Regarding the methods and how to submit the claims and the complaints before the European and international courts, by the affected or the activists, Naasso stated that, it “isn’t easy” and in the course of submitting complaints, the victims or the claimants often make mistakes related to the stage of description or the legal adjustment of the case, and taking into account the rules and procedures of the legal proceedings.
He added that the abovementioned reflects on the case negatively – merits of the case – and makes the chances of its success slim despite its eligibility and fairness, “due to insufficient knowledge of the laws by them, principles and the legal proceedings before the European and international courts.”
Several Syrian human rights organizations in Europe, specifically in Germany, have been active in the recent years to submit legal cases against the persons who committed violations of human rights that amounted to murder, Kidnapping, torture to death.
Lately in December, the German prosecute in Frankfurt accused a Syrian man of being a member in the ranks of the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) and fighting in Syria between 2013-2015. The trial charges refer to the Syrian man’s leadership of an ISIS-affiliated group of twenty persons, during the period of ISIS control over large areas in Syria and Iraq.
According to the German media, the accused person was in charge of two areas in the Syrian governorate of Raqqa, which became ISIS de facto capital in Syria, and he came to Germany in 2018 and submitted for asylum as any Syrian refugee.
In February 2019, the German authorities arrested two former Syrian intelligence officers, after personal prosecutes against them, on charges of their involvement in torturing operations against opponents of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, during their time in the Syrian intelligence services.
The most recent news of the arrest of those accused of violations in Syria, was the arrest of the former official spokesperson and the member of the militia of Jaysh al-Islam, Islam Alloush, by the French authorities last January, and under the charges of war crimes and torture.
