UPDATE - Germany arrests 2 ex-spies of Syrian regime

ADDS STATEMENT BY EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - German police arrested two Syrian former spies on charges of crimes against humanity, torture, mistreatment and extra-judicial killings, officials said Wednesday.

Anwar R. and Eyad A. were arrested Tuesday, following police operations in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin, the Federal Prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The 56-year-old Anwar R. was a senior official of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate until September 2012, and he was suspected of being responsible for the systematic torture of hundreds of civilians at the Al-Khatib detention facility in Damascus.

The other suspect, 42-year-old Eyad A., was suspected of killing two people, when he worked for the Syrian intelligence between July 2011 and January 2012. He was also accused of involvement in torture and mistreatment of at least 2,000 detainees.

-Milestone in fight against impunity

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, a Berlin-based institution assisting survivors of torture in Syria, welcomed the arrests as a milestone in the fight against impunity.

“This could lead to a criminal trial in Germany, which would be the first trial anywhere in the world examining the responsibility of senior members of the Syrian intelligence agencies of President Bashar al-Assad for crimes of torture,” the institution said in a statement.

The group’s head, Wolfgang Kaleck, said the arrests were also a very important message to survivors of torture. “Without justice, there will be no lasting peace in Syria,” he said.