Syria’s Interior Ministry in Latakia (western Syria) announced the arrest of Maj. Gen. Naif Dergam, who served as the Military Prosecutor General under the former Syrian regime.

In a statement on Monday, 27 October, the ministry announced that the Internal Security Directorate, in collaboration with the Counterterrorism Branch, had arrested Dergam following “close monitoring and continuous surveillance.” Dergam, who hails from al-Shamiya village (northern Latakia countryside, western Syria), is accused of committing “grave” violations against civilians during the former regime’s rule.

According to the ministry, Dergam was among the figures who held senior state posts at the time, including the position of Military Prosecutor General, to whom military and field courts reported in that period. The ministry confirmed that he has been referred to the competent authorities to complete investigations in preparation for bringing him before the competent judiciary and taking the necessary legal measures.

After Akram al-Abdullah

On 22 October, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of Maj. Gen. Akram Salloum al-Abdullah, who previously served as head of the Military Police at the Defense Ministry between 2014 and 2015, during the former regime’s rule.

It said the suspect was implicated in grave violations against detainees in Sednaya Military Prison (north of Damascus) during his tenure.

According to the statement, initial investigations indicated that the general directly oversaw executions inside Sednaya Military Prison during his time leading the Military Police, and he became known in those years for widespread violations against political detainees.

Military courts under the former regime executed thousands of detainees, including defectors and civilians, on charges linked to opposing the government.

Investigations with four prominent figures

The Interior Ministry has previously arrested several symbols of the former regime accused of violations against civilians during and before the Syrian uprising and has begun investigating them.

Among the most prominent are Wasim al-Assad, a relative of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad; former Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun; former Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar; former Air Force Intelligence chief Ibrahim Huweija, and Atef Najib, who headed Military Security at the outbreak of the uprising and is accused of sparking it by arresting and torturing children.

Mansour al-Omari, a Syrian legal advocate with a master’s degree in transitional justice and conflict, told Enab Baladi that the Ministry of Justice has not filed charges under “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” but instead relies on provisions of Syrian law.

Al-Omari considered this “a major flaw” and a natural result of what he described as “deficiencies in Syrian law,” which lacks definitions for these crimes, except the Huwaija case, depending on the dates of the alleged offenses.

According to al-Omari, this flaw will have negative repercussions with serious implications across several levels, including criminal accountability, the pillars of transitional justice such as reparations, and Syria’s historical narrative and collective memory.

He explained that documenting crimes by their proper legal names is a core component of building the historical narrative of the conflict and an integral part of transitional justice.

On the other hand, some individuals accused of violations against civilians in Syria remain outside prison. Some are in hiding, while others are still in Syria. Notably, Fadi Saqr, former commander of the National Defense militia that fought alongside the former Syrian army, whom the government said coordinated with it during Operation Deter the Aggression, which led to the ouster of Assad.