THE HAGUE, April 8 (Reuters) – A Syrian man accused of crimes against humanity for allegedly torturing and raping prisoners when he was a member of a militia that backed the government of former president Bashar al-Assad told Dutch judges on Wednesday he did not beat inmates.
The 57-year-old man, identified only as Rafik A., faces 25 charges including torture, sexual violence and rape as crimes against humanity against nine people more than a decade ago.
In court, A. spoke through an interpreter and denied the charges, saying victims and prosecutors were conspiring against him.
“The people who said I was hitting them (…) that is not correct,” he told the three-judge panel on the first day of the trial.
The case is the first in the Netherlands to deal with alleged atrocity crimes in Syria committed by pro-government forces. It is also the first time Dutch prosecutors have charged sexual violence as a crime against humanity. The trial is expected to last until the end of May with a verdict set for June 9. If convicted of crimes against humanity, A. could face a life sentence.
According to Dutch prosecutors, A. was the head of the interrogation unit of the National Defence Forces (NDF) in Salamiyah, Syria, in 2013 and 2014. The NDF was a militia that fought on the side of the government of Assad, who was ousted in December 2024.
In December 2023, Dutch police arrested A., who had travelled to the country in 2021 as an asylum seeker.
Under the concept of universal jurisdiction, Dutch law broadly allows cases to be brought against foreign nationals for crimes committed abroad if the perpetrators or some of the victims are present in the Netherlands.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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