Germany’s Federal Court of Justice on Thursday, August 6, upheld a life sentence against a member of a local militia convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the conflict in Syria, making the ruling against him final.
The court said in a statement that it rejected the defendant’s appeal against a June 3, 2025 ruling by the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart, which sentenced him to life imprisonment after convicting him of crimes against humanity, including murder, forcible transfer resulting in death and torture, as well as war crimes against persons and property.
Crimes in Bosra al-Sham
According to facts established before the court, the defendant, who was 20 at the time, joined a local Shiite militia in Bosra al-Sham (Daraa governorate, southern Syria) shortly after the war in Syria began in 2011.
The court said the militia operated alongside the Assad regime and took part in pursuing people the regime considered opponents, particularly civilians, through raids, arrests and looting.
Arrests and Torture
According to the court, the defendant took part in August 2012 in storming a family’s home with an armed group as part of the sectarian targeting of civilians. The attackers opened fire inside the house and forced a mother and her four children outside. One of the family’s sons, aged 21, was then shot dead while lying on the ground, an act the defendant approved.
Members of the group also seized valuables from the house and set it on fire, leading members of at least four families to permanently leave the neighborhood the following day.
The court added that in April 2013, the defendant participated in the arrest of three civilians from their homes. They were restrained and transported in the bed of a pickup truck to a military intelligence prison, while being beaten with assault rifles along the way.
The court said the defendant knew when the three men were handed over that they would be detained and mistreated for weeks, which is what subsequently happened.
The court also established that the defendant took part in an attack on another family in 2014. He entered their home with militia members, gathered the women and children in one place and looted valuables. They then took the head of the household to an abandoned factory, where he was tortured and beaten before being dumped in the street, unable to walk because of his injuries.
Universal Jurisdiction
The Federal Court of Justice said its review of the ruling found no significant legal errors, either in the assessment of the evidence or in the legal classification of the crimes. It found that the Stuttgart court had applied the law correctly and that the evidence was sufficient to establish the defendant’s responsibility for the crimes attributed to him.
The court explained that German law applies to the case even though the crimes were committed in Syria and the defendant is not a German citizen. It cited the principle of universal jurisdiction under Germany’s Code of Crimes against International Law, which allows judicial authorities to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity regardless of where the crimes were committed or the nationality of the perpetrators or victims.
The court also rejected a defense argument concerning the application of adult criminal law to the defendant, who was 20 years and eight months old when the first crimes were committed. It found that the lower court’s decision on the matter complied with the law and contained no error that would justify overturning the ruling.
The judgment is one of a series issued by German courts in recent years against defendants accused of serious violations in Syria, as part of the application of universal jurisdiction to hold those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable.