Representatives of the Assad Regime Indicted in Vienna

A 61-year-old ex-general, who was brought to Austria in 2015 by the domestic intelligence service due to a deal with Mossad, has been in pre-trial detention since the end of December. However, the second accused, Abu R., is at liberty. According to APA information, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) saw no reason for detention in his case.

The two are accused of serious crimes against civilians who were imprisoned in Syria at the time, including serious bodily harm, sexual coercion, and torture. After lengthy investigations, the 61-year-old Khaleb Al H. - who was head of Department 335 of the Syrian intelligence service from 2009 to March 2013 - was arrested on December 23, 2024, and subsequently taken into pre-trial detention. According to APA information, he has been in the Vienna-Josefstadt prison since then.

Second Accused at Liberty

The second accused - who was head of the criminal police investigation department in Raqqa between 2011 and 2013 and received an international award in Tunis in 2010 as Syria's best criminal officer - has also been residing in Austria since 2015. He and his staff were responsible for the interrogation of prisoners. Numerous acts of torture are said to have occurred during this time, which the accused often carried out himself according to several witness statements.

He was arrested a few days after Khaleb Al H. and also taken into pre-trial detention. An appeal against detention filed with the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Vienna was granted. The man was released in mid-January under milder conditions and has been at liberty since then. The OLG found no reason for detention in his case.

According to statements from former prisoners, the detainees were subjected to extreme psychological abuse and were regularly and systematically tortured and humiliated through beatings, electric shocks, and the use of primitive instruments intended to cause severe pain. Terrible conditions are also said to have prevailed in the criminal police detention rooms: sometimes 25 or more prisoners were housed in a five by five meter cell. Neither were the inmates informed about the duration of their detention, nor were their relatives notified of their whereabouts. The hygienic conditions and the supply of food and drinking water can only be described as inadequate: the latter was provided via the toilet, which was located in the cell.

Trial Over Operation "White Milk" Ended in Acquittals

The now-dissolved Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) agreed in May 2015 with a foreign partner service to bring Khaleb Al H. from France to Austria. He was received at the Austrian border by BVT officers, chauffeured to Vienna in a service vehicle, accommodated in a quarter in the federal capital, and financially supported. Subsequently, representatives of the BVT even assisted the Syrian officer with his asylum procedure and endeavored to help him obtain a right to stay.

According to findings by the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor's Office (WKStA), the cooperation agreement named "White Milk" was primarily concluded by the then BVT department head Martin Weiss, who has since gone into hiding in Dubai. Weiss is being sought with an international arrest warrant because he is said to have co-organized the hasty escape of former Wirecard manager Jan Marsalek from Bad Vöslau airport to Russia. For three former BVT officers and one from the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA), the trial for abuse of office ended in acquittal in 2023. However, Weiss was already unreachable for the judiciary at that time and did not attend the main hearing. The now first accused general was summoned as a witness at the time but remained reticent. He stated, "I fear for my life and that of my family," at the Vienna Regional Criminal Court.

(APA/Red)

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