Dutch prosecutors demand 30 years in prison for crimes against Syrian civilians

“Thirteen years separate me from the moment when this man was my jailer and my tormentor. He tortured me and my companions with everything his hands could reach. He and his team were consumed by delusions of power. (..) At the moments when he gloated over our bodies, the hearts of our families were broken; their sons were in the hands of sadistic tormentors who tortured them in every possible way, while they stood powerless.”

The courtroom is silent as the witnesses in the trial exercise their right to speak. They speak of physical and psychological torture and a striking amount of violence by the defendant. “Not only did he tear my body apart, but he trampled on my soul. He was the worst nightmare of my life,” says one of them, who recounts that he entered detention as a child and emerged as a traumatized adult.

National Defence Forces

The events of this case took place in 2013 and 2014 in Salamiyah, Syria. At the time, the defendant was employed as a court clerk. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he also participated in brutally suppressing the peaceful protests against President Assad’s government. The case file shows that the defendant was a member of the National Defence Forces (NDF), a paramilitary group that fought on the side of the Syrian regime. This militia often carried out the regime’s dirty work, such as arresting, imprisoning, and interrogating Syrian civilians. 

Violence in detention

In addition to peaceful protestors, family members and random others also ended up in the interrogation department of the NDF in Salamiyah, where, according to the criminal investigation, the defendant was an interrogator. The horrors that took place there defy all imagination. Prisoners were severely tortured and tormented. Victims were often blindfolded and sometimes completely or partially stripped, frequently kicked and beaten, tied up, and subjected to electric shocks. The Public Prosecution Service also accuses the defendant of committing sexual violence upon several victims and of raping one victim.

Exceptional Case

These horrors are now being discussed in a Dutch court because the defendant decided to flee to the Netherlands. In 2021, shortly after he had settled in the Dutch town of Druten, the International Crimes Team (TIM) of the police began investigating him. The d immediate trigger cause was a report by a human rights lawyer, who had received information from witnesses that a person residing in the Netherlands had allegedly been involved in international crimes. These statements marked the start of the investigation named Shildon. Nine survivors ultimately testified against the defendant, which led to this extraordinary case. According to the public prosecutors:
 

“Extraordinary – because far from all the victims of the crimes committed in Syria are given the opportunity to have their tormentor ever brought to justice. Countless criminals from the Assad regime are currently still walking free. Extraordinary – because it is the first time that rape and sexual violence as crimes against humanity have been presented to a Dutch judge.

Extraordinary – because the Assad regime fell while the investigation in this case was ongoing, which made witnesses dare to testify by name and enabled victims to return to Syria, to family and friends they often had not seen for years. This also had direct consequences for the evidence in this criminal case.”

For instance, witnesses traveled back to the places where they were imprisoned and made recordings there. The footage, which was shown in the courtroom, supports their testimonies.

Evidence

In addition to the nine victims who gave statements in this case, many others were interviewed by the Dutch police as witnesses. More than twenty witnesses were questioned as witnesses by the  examining magistrate. At the court hearing, the Public Prosecution Service extensively motivated on what grounds it considers the witness statements reliable. The evidence als includes,  amongst other things, documents from Syria originating from security services. They confirm that the defendant was acting as an interrogator for the NDF. The file also contains information, photos, and documents found on the internet. Medical statements from various victims have also been included in the case file to substantiate the psychological and physical injuries they sustained during the torture.

Defendant who denies the charges

The defendant dismisses all allegations. The prosecutors: “He constantly casts himself in the role of victim and has slandered the victims in various ways. This attitude of the defendant makes attending the hearing difficult for the victims, perhaps even more difficult than they had imagined beforehand. These days in court and the confrontation with the defendant take them back in time, to the darkest days of their lives.”

For instance, the defendant has spread many negative reports about the victims in this case, while the investigation has yielded no evidence whatsoever to support these. It is difficult for them to accept that the defendant is twisting the knife in their wounds.

Sentencing

The defendant is accused of 25 criminal offenses, including complicity in torture, complicity in torture as a crime against humanity, and complicity in sexual violence and rape as a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity are crimes committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. The fact that the defendant assumed a leading role and acted with extreme cruelty contributes to the seriousness of the case, according to the Public Prosecution Service. During the numerous interrogations, he was not only present in the interrogation room, but he personally tortured the victims, and  gave co-interrogators explicit orders to do so. In this regard, a sentence of 30 years is appropriate, the public prosecutors conclude.

The trial continues tomorrow with the closing arguments of the defendant's lawyers. The court is expected to deliver its verdict in this case on 9 June 2026.