a group of human rights organizations
have filed
criminal complaints here in germany for
two chemical
weapons attacks carried out in syria in
2013 and 2017.
some estimates suggest more than a
thousand people were killed
in one of the attacks in the damascus
suburb of eastern ghouta
to avert military intervention in 2013
by the u.s
and other countries the regime of basha
al-assad
committed to destroying its chemical
weapons however investigators say the
syrian military has continued to use
outlawed weapons such as sarin gas
against its own population
human rights groups have identified the
use of nerve gas
in more than 200 instances over the past
seven years
now the hope is that the courts in
germany can deliver
justice for the victims dw reporters
were given
exclusive access to documents and
witnesses who form part of the complaint
filed with the country's federal
prosecutor
the screams of victims who died in the
serengas attack in ghouta
to this day still echo in the ears of
syrian nurse iman
she wants nothing more than syrian
president bashar assad
and the perpetrators of the attack to be
charged
she and her husband mohammed are
witnesses of a criminal complaint filed
in germany by human rights groups
they wish to remain anonymous because
they fear for their family's safety
i fear for my mother and my sisters who
are still living in syria
because the regime is cruel and unjust
it has no mercy
if it had a conscience they wouldn't
have done these things
on august 21st 2013 at least
four rockets loaded with serene gas
warheads
struck rebel-held parts of eastern
ghouta
more than a thousand people were killed
many of them children
among them was iman and muhammad's
eldest son
they too were exposed to seren and were
unconscious for days
to this day the syrian regime denies any
responsibility for the attack
i hope that one day i can stand before a
judge and tell them what this chemical
attack
did to us um
is convinced that the syrian regime was
behind the attack
for years his organization the syrian
archive
along with two other human rights groups
have meticulously analyzed the attack
from the suspected launch sites to the
rockets used
they have also documented undisclosed
chemical weapons facilities
including where sarin was hidden after
2013.
we think from our investigation that
most
probably branch for 150
a network of different entities that are
responsible for
the coordination and the execution
of these attacks dw's investigative team
along with german news magazine
spiegel was given exclusive access to
parts of the criminal complaint
it includes testimonies from 50
defectors
with first-hand knowledge of the
chemical weapons program
and names suspected perpetrators such as
bashar assad and his younger brother
maher
we have one witness who has described
that the
request for the use of serengas comes
from
maharal assad and then is communicated
to the presidential palace where
it is approved we believe it is approved
or ordered by
bashar al-assad the criminal complaint
was filed in october with the chief
federal prosecutor in karlsruhe
where war crimes unit has been
investigating atrocities in syria for
years
federal prosecutors here in germany
confirmed to us that a criminal
complaint was filed but they would not
comment on its contents
instead they said they would
independently probe the evidence
before deciding whether to open a case
against individual suspects
but that can take weeks or even months
iman was traumatized by the events she
suffers from depression and needs
medication to make it through the day
but the investigation in germany has
given her strength
and hope that the people responsible for
all the suffering
will finally be held to account
joining me now is burkita schalke one of
the dw's investigative reporters
who filed this report uh bergata what
are the chances that this complaint
actually turns into an indictment of
president assad
we understand that the federal
prosecutor's office is taking this
criminal
complaint very seriously and in fact
it's a
really comprehensive documentation of
the attacks with a lot of evidence
and also names of uh possible
perpetrators
i think the strongest evidence uh
are the defective testimonies which
describe the chain of command and
they also suggest that even bashar assad
knew about this attack and that could uh
lead
to an um indictment under international
law
but we have to remember that assad
is still an acting head of state and
that
it's clear that it will take a long time
until such indictment could happen and
also
you have to take in mind he has a lot of
very strong allies
like russia and china so i think to this
day he in a way enjoys immunity
for now you know i'm curious you know
there are three human rights
organizations that are behind this
complaint
why did they choose germany to press the
charges
given the history of germany with the
nazi regime and the nuremberg trials
germany has been supporting the
prosecution of
international crimes like genocide like
war crimes crimes against humanity
for a very long time and it has enacted
the so-called principle
of universal jurisdiction and this
principle
means that germany can prosecute
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such crimes international crimes
regardless
where they were committed or against
whom and this
obviously applies to syria you have seen
many hours i'm sure of or many
multiple videos of that terrible night
in 2013 in ghouta
plus additional documentation as well
is there any chance that these crimes
were committed by
anyone outside of this regime or other
than this regime
no i don't think so because all evidence
really
point in the direction of the assad
regime starting with the rockets
which were used in that attack and
the the launch sites
um which were in fact close to the
presidential palace
um and even more important the
the chemicals which were used serene is
very very difficult
to produce and even more difficult to
use as a weapon
and there had been no indication that
the rebels would have had
the capacity nor the access to such
chemicals
you met survivors amon and muhammad who
of course
lost their eldest son in the ghouta
attack
what keeps them going
iman is heavily traumatized and
as we told in the report she still needs
medication
but on the day when we visited her she
told me that she
hadn't taken her medication because she
said she wanted to be clear in her head
when
she was talking with us about these uh
these atrocities and i think she and her
husband
mohammed they are keen uh
and committed to in in their wish to do
their bit
to help the assad regime responsible and
for them
every small step in direction to justice
is an important one and this criminal
complaint is definitely one of them
brigitte shulker of dw's investigative
unit really appreciate that very
powerful report
you