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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/21/world/europe/ap-eu-germany-syria-torture-trial.html
Syrian Refugees to Face Their Torturers in German Court
(AP-New York Times) This week, Wassim Mukdad, 34, together with more than a dozen other witnesses, will testify before a German court in the trial of Anwar R., 57, a former member of Syria's secret police, accused of running a government detention center where Mukdad and thousands of others were tortured during the early months of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad. Human rights activists say this case marks the first time worldwide that a former Syrian official is being held responsible for serious crimes during the conflict. As a senior member of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, R. is accused of overseeing the "systematic and brutal torture" of more than 4,000 prisoners between April 2011 and September 2012, resulting in the deaths of at least 58 people, federal prosecutors said.