Eight individuals suspected of committing crimes against humanity during the Syrian civil war have been apprehended in a joint operation by German and Swedish authorities.
Five suspects, including four former members of an armed militia and a former Syrian intelligence agent, were arrested in Germany, while three were detained in Sweden.
According to the German justice system, they “are strongly suspected of the murder or attempted murder of civilians as crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed during the civil unrest initiated in 2011 in Syria, following the suppression of protests against the government.
The Swedish prosecutor’s statement pointed out those arrested in Sweden are “suspected of have committed a crime against humanity, in Syria in 2012.”
The suspects arrested in Germany include four stateless individuals of Palestinian origin, members of an armed militia that exercised control over the Al Yarmouk district of Damascus, the Syrian capital, "on behalf of the Syrian regime," the German public prosecutor's office said.
"All the defendants took part in the violent repression of a peaceful demonstration against the Syrian government on 13 July 2012 in Al Yarmouk," the prosecutor's office added. "They deliberately shot at the demonstrators."
In addition, "massive, sometimes repeated physical violence" was inflicted on civilians in Al Yarmouk between mid-2012 and 2014 by several suspects who are also believed to have handed over to the Syrian authorities three civilians subsequently murdered "in a mass execution."
The arrests were carried out as part of a judicial cooperation between German and Swedish authorities, with the support of the Europol and Eurojust agencies and several European countries.
In the name of the principle of universal jurisdiction - which allows certain serious crimes to be prosecuted regardless of where they were committed - Germany has already tried Syrians for atrocities committed during their country's civil war.
