In Germany, the first trial of Syrian officials for torture, secretive disappearance and murder under torture begins

The higher regional court in Koblenz has today published its decision to open the case against Anwar R and Eyad A. The proceedings will start on 23 April 2020. Further hearings will be held on the following days this year, in in April: 27, 28, 29; in May 2020: 18, 19, 27, 28, 29. The official press release of the court will probably be available on its website tomorrow or the day after: https://olgko.justiz.rlp.de/de/presse-aktuelles/

The proceedings are likely to take much longer than one year, maybe even several years.

Hearings will be public. That means that anyone can go to the court building on any day of the proceedings and will be seated in the public gallery. Here is the google maps link to the court: https://goo.gl/maps/45yfEk8u2pTdesS29

We think that it will be getting quite crowded on the very first days of trial. If more people want to get in than there is space, it is possible that not everybody can enter. It is not possible to pre-book for the entrance. Only journalists can try to get accredited. Information on how that works will be in the press release that the court will issue in the coming days.

The trial will take plcae in German and unfortunately there is no translation for the public. There will also be no audio- or video recordings made from the proceedings. We will try to update you on how the trial regularly.