Second Syria torture trial opens in Germany

19/1/2022 7:43

        A Syrian doctor suspected of crimes against humanity, including torturing prisoners at military hospitals in Syria, goes on trial in Germany on Wednesday in the second such case over alleged state-backed torture in Syria's conflict.
        
        After a landmark German court ruling last week sentencing a Syrian former intelligence officer to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, the trial of the
        36-year-old doctor will start at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main.
        
        The defendant, identified as Alaa M. under German privacy laws, is accused of torturing opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while working as a doctor at a military prison and hospitals in Homs and Damascus in 2011 and 2012.
        
        The Assad government denies accusations of having tortured prisoners.