The Stockholm district court’s verdict, which came down at 11 a.m. today, is the first of its kind in Europe.
Never before has such a high-ranking military official been put on trial in a European court for crimes against humanity in Syria.
The 65-year-old man, who now lives in Sweden, was a brigadier general in the country’s army and was indicted earlier this year for involvement in war crimes in 2012.
According to the indictment, among other things, he was involved in planning the 11th military division’s warfare during the current civil war and was also responsible for the supply of weapons. According to the prosecutor, the general was part of the divisional leadership’s staff and has “through his position and function been an important prerequisite” for the weaponry to function.
The prosecutor also believed that the 65-year-old contributed to the division’s military leadership “being able to make strategic decisions and carry out planned military operations.”
District Court: Weak evidence against the 11th Division
Through his role as an officer, he had, according to the prosecutor, participated in “warfare which systematically included indiscriminate attacks” mainly against the cities of Homs and Hama. This without distinguishing between civilian and military targets.
But on Thursday, the Stockholm district court rejected the prosecution.
The court believes that it is clear that war crimes were committed, but states that there is insufficient evidence to establish that the 11th Division participated in the attacks. According to the court, it is also not proven that the 65-ring was responsible for arming the military units.
– The main issues in the case are whether the 11th division of the Syrian army has participated in indiscriminate attacks in certain areas and whether the defendant participated in arming the division in those attacks. According to the district court, there is no evidence that clarifies these questions. The evidence that the prosecutor has relied on has therefore not been deemed sufficient to be able to convict of crime, says Councilor Katarina Fabian in a press release.