Overview
- Federal prosecutors presented the indictment at the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz against five stateless Syrian Palestinians aged 42 to 56.
- Charges include murder, crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes for actions prosecutors say were carried out in Syria between 2012 and 2014.
- The indictment alleges the men fired on a peaceful Damascus protest on July 13, 2012, killing at least six people, including a 14-year-old, and wounding others.
- Prosecutors link four defendants to pro-government militias, including the Free Palestine Movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the fifth to Syrian military intelligence.
- All five were arrested on July 3, 2024 and remain in pre-trial detention, with roughly 40 further hearing days scheduled through June 2026.