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Justice in Syria

Clear and analytic news

Since the fall of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the issue of justice in Syria has been in the world news headlines. The International Criminal Court (ICC) does not have jurisdiction to deal with mass crimes perpetrated by the ousted regime, while since 2019, European courts have taken the lead under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”. The first historic trial, that of Anwar Raslan in Germany, was followed by others, notably in the Netherlands, and by lawsuits launched against around sixty alleged perpetrators in Sweden, Belgium, Austria or France. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued “provisional measures” against the practice of torture in Syria. A UN mechanism has been tasked with documenting these crimes. Today, European prosecutors who are working on these cases, Syrian lawyers and all the organisations that have been mobilised for years are at the forefront of this fight for justice , followed very closely by Justice Info.

Universal jurisdiction (podcast) - Rohingya refugee woman from Myanmar in a camp in Bangladesh

Has universal jurisdiction come of age?

“It seems like every week, across a variety of situations, there’s a new universal jurisdiction case. We used to count case by case to see how this phenomenon was growing. Now we wonder whether it’s a standard response by victims’ rights groups, to look for openings.” This is what our partners at Asymmetrical Haircuts have […]

By Asymmetrical Haircuts

Universal jurisdiction in France - World map of countries where France conducts investigations

Crucial hearing for universal jurisdiction in France

Syrian trial for war crimes in Germany

Syrian trial in Berlin: life imprisonment for a militiaman

Court in Berlin where Moafak D is tried for war crimes in Syria.

Syrian war crime trial in Berlin: a late alibi for defense

Yarmouk camp in Damascus (Syria)

Syria: Berlin prosecutors urge life sentence in war crimes trial

In a street whose buildings are completely devastated (Yarmouk district in Damascus, Syria), a distribution of food aid is organized for many refugees

Patrick Kroker: “They saw injuries nobody could have survived”

Is there a right methodology to document war crimes in Myanmar, Syria, Iraq or Ukraine?

A soldier of the Syrian government army points his weapon at a large hole whose bottom is not visible

What the Alleged Arrest of Tadamon Perpetrator Tells Us About the Syrian Regime Model of Transitional Justice

A doctor holds a bloodstained open book in a hospital

Germany: When Syrian doctors became part of Assad’s terror

2 Syrian victims and activists demonstrate with signs outside the court in Koblenz, Germany, following the trial of Anwar Raslan

Anwar Raslan's conviction: "The beginning of a wider struggle"

Anwar Raslan in the dock in Koblenz (Al-Khatib trial), Germany

Syria: Anwar Raslan gets life sentence for crimes against humanity

Anwar Raslan during his trial in Koblenz, Germany

Defence: “Raslan did whatever he could to help”

Syrian Colonel Anwar Raslan handcuffed during his trial in Koblenz (Germany)

Prosecution: "Raslan was either powerless, or he wasn’t"

Anwar Raslan in the dock in Koblenz (Al-Khatib trial), Germany

Syrian torture trial in Germany: “Raslan was scared”

Destroyed buildings in Homs, Syria

In France, the lengthy Syrian investigations

Landscape of the region of Deir ez-Zor in Syria

Caught killing on camera in Deir ez-Zor

The hands of a Syrian doctor with blood on his scrubs

Syrian trial in Germany: the role of doctors and hospitals in the Assad regime’s prison system

Demonstration in Damas, Syria

At the Syrian trial in Germany, personal encounters with Colonel Raslan

Justice applied in the Netherlands on crimes committed in Syria

Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus