Germany Moves to Hold Syria to Account
Remember that Bashar al-Assad has killed more Syrians than Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ever did.
Still the murderer-in-chief.
Photographer: AFP/Getty Images
Drowned out by all the dramatic developments in Syria, German prosecutors have charged two officials in the Bashar al-Assad regime with crimes against humanity, including torture, murder and rape. The men, members of Syria’s infamous General Intelligence Directorate, were arrested in Germany in February; a third official was nabbed in France. The trial will begin in Koblenz early in 2020.
The prosecution of these men is important for all the obvious reasons: accountability and punishment for crimes, justice for victims. But the timing serves another useful purpose. It reminds us that for all the news about the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Turkey’s military invasion, a Kurdish humanitarian crisis and Russian patrols, the Assad regime has perpetrated the overwhelming majority of the horrors visited upon Syria.