Overview
- The court found the defendant led a Hezbollah-supported militia in Bosra al-Sham that murdered, tortured and forcibly displaced Sunni civilians.
- The 42-day trial featured testimony from 30 witnesses—mostly Syrians now living abroad—who detailed raids, beatings and detentions in 2012 and 2013.
- Prosecutors introduced photographs of detention facilities and damaged homes that became available after Assad’s fall last December.
- Arrested in December 2023 in Baden-Württemberg, the man was tried under Germany’s universal jurisdiction laws for crimes against humanity.
- The life sentence follows landmark convictions such as the 2022 jailing of former colonel Anwar Raslan for state-sponsored torture.