German Federal Court convicts Syrian refugees on war crimes

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On October 19, the Federal Court in Germany approved the prison sentences ordered against a number of Syrian refugees for committing war crimes in Syria.

Among them was a former fighter in al-Nusra Front (now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS). He was also involved in the Garbage Dump mass grave committed in 2013, in Tabqa city of Raqqa governorate, north Syria. 

Karlsruhe-based Federal Court adjusted only one detail in the verdict after considering the appeal offered by the defendant but it kept the penalty which means that the verdict has become final.

The suspect, born in Syria 1988, killed two people and had participated in the killing of 17 others, a German news agency said.

Earlier, a tribunal in Stuttgart city proved “gravity of the offence” and excluded out the release of the offender in a short time. 

The German Regional Court/ Landgericht sentenced to jail  three Syrian refugees who worked for a military unit affiliated with al-Nusra Front group. At least one of the suspects was convicted in the Garbage Dump mass grave in Tabqa city 2013. 

The Federal prosecutors reviewed the 8-year jail decree issued against the offender participated in the mass grave, but found no legal errors, the German news agency added.

The prosecutors listened to three testimonies from eyewitnesses who confirmed that the three men killed at least 19 Syrian people in Tabqa in 2013. All of the murdered were Syrian government police officers whom were taken as captives when the group captured Raqqa city.

Over the past years, the suspects fled to Germany and got asylum in different cities.