Statement on the ruling of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court against Syrian defendant Alaa M. for committing crimes against humanity
Following four years of detention and three and a half years of trial. Today, on the 16th of May 2025, the trial was concluded before the Higher Regional Court Frankfurt/Main, with the sentencing of the Syrian physician Alaa Moussa to life imprisonment with no possibility of release on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity.
The court held 186 sessions and heard from more than 50 witnesses and victims, as well as numerous experts, including the head of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, lawyer Anwar Albuni, who testified twice before the court, considering that the center’s work in gathering evidence and hearing witnesses and victims played a major role in the preparation of the case, arrest, and trial.
The charges and evidence relied upon by the court in issuing the verdict focused on the defendant’s torture, sexual abuse, and murder of ill detainees at the Homs Military Hospital and Tishreen Military Hospital in 2011 and 2012.
The testimony of witnesses and experts painted a comprehensive picture of the role of Syrian military hospitals in the Assad regime’s torture system, its systematic attacks on civilians, and the violent suppression of protests in Homs, particularly in the Baba Amr district.
The Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research team has been working on this case for over five years, collecting evidence and testimonies and presenting them to the German public prosecutor.
We at the Center strongly welcome this decision and consider it an important additional condemnation of the Koblenz court’s decision against the defendant Anwar Raslan to life imprisonment, which condemned the Syrian regime’s system of oppression, torture, and murder, and held the regime’s head and senior officials responsible for these crimes. This decision is a significant and fundamental milestone in the path of universal jurisdiction, that allows for the prosecution of perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, even if they were committed outside its territory, which Germany has pioneered, and played a key role since 2017 in marking the beginning of the end for the criminal regime.
All the thanks are to the victims and witnesses for their efforts, despite the suffering they had to endure, to reach this decision and achieve a portion of justice. They never thought of themselves as much as they thought of the other victims who were unable to reach the court or the victims who were not destined to survive.
Many thanks to the experts for their efforts in providing the court with the background and true picture of the crimes committed.
Many thanks to the German Public Prosecution Service and police units for their efforts to uncover the truth.
Greatest gratitude goes to the court panel and its presiding judge for their persistent and tireless efforts to uncover the truth and investigate every detail, no matter how small or simple, and for their open-mindedness and patience with the witnesses, victims, and defendant’s lawyers.
This decision is a confirmation and reminder to every one of the priorities of justice for victims, and the need to ensure that all victims, regardless of their religion, sect, nationality, or political position, have access to justice, and that all criminals, regardless of their religion, sect, nationality, or political position, are brought to justice and punished.
The Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research is committed to pursuing justice and prosecuting criminals in Europe under universal jurisdiction, as well as working on transitional justice in Syria.
No impunity
No safe haven for criminals
No peace without justice