The Munich Regional Court of Appeal (OLG) has indicted three men war crimes sentenced to a long prison sentence in Syria. After 14 months of trial, they were sentenced to prison terms of nine years and ten months, seven years and four and a half years, the court announced.
The person who was sentenced to the longest sentence had founded an armed rebel group which later merged into the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist militia. The Regional High Court tried the three for a total of 86 days for membership or leadership of a network in an overseas terrorist organization and war crimes.
According to information, the court was advised by two experts in taking evidence in order to place the act in the context of the uprising against the Syrian government led by the now ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad. This initially secular rebel group has taken on Islamic traits since 2013 before being absorbed into ISIS. The aim is to fight the regular Syrian army.
“Who hasn’t committed human rights crimes in Syria?”
During this phase, one of them took over oil fields in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Essor Syria. He uses most of his income for his association and family. He also ordered an attack on a Shia group, which was filmed by one of the men. During police interrogation, he said to detectives about crimes in his home country: “Who hasn’t committed human rights crimes in Syria?”
The court announced that it accepted the opinion Man does not tell them that they were involved in a legitimate struggle for freedom. The national liberation movement has no right to carry out armed resistance against regular troops. The three defendants fled to Germany after the military defeat of ISIS. The decision is not final.
