The German authorities have begun the trial of a 54-year-old Syrian man on charges related to purchasing military-grade equipment and supplying it to the Ahrar al-Sham faction, between October 2012 and April 2014.

The trial commenced on Monday, April 22, at the Hanseatic High Regional Court, according to German websites which mentioned that the accused traveled between 2012 and 2014 from northern Germany to Syria three times to deliver military equipment to Ahrar al-Sham.

The reports stated that the accused, referred to as “B,” traveled to Syria on October 12, 2012, carrying batteries and charging devices for drones via Greece to Syria in a convoy.

“B” is accused of bringing antennas, routing devices, and binoculars to Syria in an ambulance, on December 2, 2013.

The accused declared that he would testify about these charges on the day following the trial, without specifying the exact date.

Security authorities in European Union countries are detaining and trying refugees proven to be involved in “terrorist” operations or war crimes against Syrians, whether they were part of the armed opposition factions or the Syrian regime forces.

Germany is one of the European countries that pursues individuals who committed “war crimes” while in Syria before seeking asylum in the country.

The trial of Syrian officer Anwar Raslan in Germany is one of the prominent cases concerning Syrians accused of being responsible for “crimes against humanity,” which were carried out in detention centers belonging to the Syrian regime in Damascus.

On January 13, 2022, the Higher Regional Court in the town of Koblenz in southwestern Germany issued its verdict against the former officer in the Syrian General Intelligence Service, Anwar Raslan, sentencing him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and with him bearing the full costs for the victims.

Ahrar al-Sham

The Ahrar al-Sham Movement was established at the end of 2011 from the merger of four Syrian opposition factions: the Ahrar al-Sham brigades, the Islamic Dawn Movement, the Islamic Vanguard group, and the Combatant Faith Battalions, and chose the slogan “A Nation’s Project,” which was later changed to “A People’s Revolution” after Hashim al-Sheikh (Abu Jaber) became its leader in 2014.

On September 9, 2014, a mysterious explosion targeted a secret meeting that included dozens of leaders from the Islamic Ahrar al-Sham Movement at a location belonging to the group in the town of Tal Sandal near Ram Hamdan in northern Idlib, killing 40 of the movement’s leaders, most notably its leader and founder, Hassan Aboud (Abu Abdullah al-Hamawi).

The explosion marked the beginning of the movement’s disintegration into streams and battalions pledging allegiance to larger factions.