Indictment Against Assad Regime Representatives in Vienna

The Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office is charging two representatives of the former regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The men are accused of serious crimes against civilians in custody, including serious bodily harm, sexual coercion, and torture, as the prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday. The former brigadier general of the intelligence service and the former lieutenant colonel of the local police in the city of Raqqa have both been living in Austria since 2015.

Charges Against Assad Regime Representatives for Crimes Against Protest Movement

The men are said to have committed the crimes to "suppress the then protest movement against the regime and intimidate the population." The mistreatment was not only carried out by others under their command, but they are also alleged to have personally "committed acts of violence against detained persons." So far, 21 victims have been identified who have "joined the proceedings as private parties due to the injuries suffered, some with severe long-term consequences," as it was further stated. The penalty ranges from one to ten years of imprisonment.

The former brigadier general is apparently the man referred to in Austrian media as the "torture general," who was reportedly smuggled into Austria in 2015 by the now-dissolved Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) and had received asylum here. According to media reports, the Syrian Druze had been working for the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad for some time and initially fled to France after escaping Raqqa in 2013. According to earlier reports, he denies the allegations of torture and mistreatment. Three former officials of the BVT and one from the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) were acquitted in a 2023 trial for abuse of office related to the case.

(APA/Red)

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