An exciting start to 2024: the Kerkrade-arrest case against Mustafa A.
This year began with a highlight in the Netherlands-based efforts to further accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria. The first case against a former Syrian regime-related official, Mustafa A., went to trial in late 2023. It became known as the Kerkrade-arrest case after the city in the South of the Netherlands where the accused was arrested. In January of this year, the District Court in The Hague found him guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and participation in militia activities, specifically related to the violent arrest and subsequent torture of a civilian in January 2013 in the Al Nairab camp outside of Aleppo. The Court sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The case was groundbreaking for multiple reasons, particularly because it clearly demonstrated the critical role civil society, particularly Syrian groups, have played in pursuing justice and accountability for atrocity crimes committed in Syria.
For years, these groups have worked closely with the Dutch prosecutor and international crimes unit of the Netherlands police. In this instance, The Nuhanovic Foundation and the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) provided legal and logistical assistance to witnesses and a victim of the crimes, helping them navigate the emotionally challenging process of attending court or giving testimony. When trials are held far from home in unfamiliar legal systems, ensuring that witnesses and victims can feel as comfortable as possible and actively participate is crucial. In this case, Dutch authorities made significant efforts by offering in-court translation from Dutch to Arabic and vice versa for those observing the trial. This practical step greatly improves access to justice for attendees who do not speak the local language. This should not be overlooked, especially in comparison with other legal systems that have shown less flexibility. The courts in Koblenz and other German cities come to mind, where access to translations in similar cases have largely and frustratingly been prohibited.
Not everyone who is invested in such a case can attend in person or would feel secure doing so. In this regard, the District Court of The Hague set another good precedent for other courts handling international crimes by allowing interested individuals to apply for access to a live stream of the proceedings. Acknowledging the importance of the case and the necessity for Syrian involvement, the Dutch authorities appear to be taking a thoughtful and practical approach to addressing the needs and concerns of the affected community. The Nuhanovic Foundation works with them to guarantee this increased level of access to justice in similar cases going to trial this and next year (see more here).
Notably, both the prosecution and the defense appealed the January verdict. The first appeals case conference, during which parties to the case discuss requests for additional investigatory steps and a timeline for the appeals trial, was scheduled for 15 August 2024 but was postponed. An appeals verdict is expected for later this year or early 2025.
Strengthening a Europe-wide trend: more Syria-related investigations going to trial soon
Arkel-arrest case
Simultaneously, the investigation into a suspect who was arrested in the Netherlands in January 2023 continued. The case, also known as the Arkel-arrest case, concerns a Syrian man who was allegedly an official with the terrorist organizations Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State in Syria. The possible allegations concern the suspect’s role in violent interrogations and subsequent torture. Depending on the investigation’s final results, additional accusations will be added to the current draft indictment, which focuses on the suspect’s membership in a terrorist and criminal organization.
This case is significant as well, as it sheds light on the particularly high levels and frequencies of violence that has occurred and international crimes that have been committed in the Yarmouk camp in Southern Damascus, where the suspect allegedly operated. The suspect has been in pre-trial detention since the arrest, while the international crimes unit of the Netherlands police and specialized prosecutor are finalizing the investigation by hearing witnesses in the Netherlands and abroad, and collecting additional evidence. Every three months, the prosecutor has to present the status of the investigation to a panel of three judges and, if needed, argue for more time to finalize it. These hearings also test the legality of a continued detention of the accused. In recent pre-trial hartings, the prosecution has informed the judges that the aim is to bring the case to trial later this year or, more likely, in early 2025. The next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Friday, 30 August 2024, at 9:30 hrs at the District Court of Rotterdam. It is freely accessible for the public with official identification (passport, ID-card).
At the most recent pre-trial hearing, the parties discussed the state of the ongoing investigation conducted by the international crimes team of the Dutch police and the specialized prosecutor’s office. While the defense argued that the pre-trial detention of their client has taken too long from a fair trial perspective, namely more than one and a half years, the prosecutor vehemently rejected the defense’s request to suspend the suspect’s detention. The prosecutor argued that additional witnesses in the Netherlands and abroad still need to be heard to finalize the investigation into the suspect’s alleged role in interrogations and possible torture in South Damascus’s Yarmouk Camp. The judges rejected the defense’s request to suspend the pre-trial detention with a view on the significance of the case and the prosecutor’s assurances that the investigation will be finalized by the end of the year.
The defense then requested the judges to allow for a witness interview that is interesting from both a legal and a geopolitical angle: a FBI liaison officer who played a role in securing and analyzing an external hard drive seized by US troops. The parties did not elaborate on the contents of the hard drive. However, it became clear that it seems to contain documents the investigators are convinced originate from ISIS and apparently include mentioning of the suspect. The defense challenges the veracity of the documents, arguing that forged ISIS documents are known to have been sold to journalists in the same region before. In response, the prosecutor argued that information obtained from the FBI should and can be relied on without a doubt. The judges also rejected the defense motion to ask the FBI officer additional questions regarding the hard drive, noting that it was not sufficiently substantiated.
The next pre-trial hearing in the Arkel-arrest case is scheduled for 13 November 2024 at 10:15 hrs at the District Court of Rotterdam.
Druten-arrest case
As part of a trend of an increasing number of Syrian regime-related investigations turning into proper cases that will likely go to trial across Europe, another Syrian man was arrested in the Netherlands in December 2023. The case has also become known as the Druten-arrest case after the Dutch town where the suspect was apprehended. The international crimes team of the Netherlands police tracked him down shortly after his arrival in the Netherlands in July 2021, following a tip that a person with a comparable name had been the chief interrogator at the local branch of the regime-related National Defence Force (NDF) in Salamiyah, and that this man was now living in the Netherlands.
The man is suspected of being the head of the interrogation department of the NDF in Salamiyah, Syria, in 2013 and 2014. The NDF is a paramilitary group consisting of many local pro-regime militias, fighting on the side of the Syrian regime. The suspicion is that from this position, the man committed acts of torture and sexual violence against civilians. He is suspected of complicity in torture and in various forms of sexual violence as crimes against humanity. The case will likely be precedent-setting and is therefore another notable development in the framework of the justice and accountability for Syria landscape in the Netherlands and abroad, as it is the first-ever in the Netherlands concerning crimes against humanity in the form of sexual violence.
The suspect is in pre-trial detention while pre-trial hearings take place every three months. Similar to the Arkel-arrest case, the investigating authorities are aiming to bring the case to trial in late 2024 or, more likely, early 2025. The next pre-trial hearing will take place on 10 September 2024 at 10:00 hrs at the District Court of The Hague and is freely accessible for the public with official identification (passport, ID-card).
Together with two Syrian partner organizations, SCM and the Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research (SCLSR), The Nuhanovic Foundation cooperates with the specialized prosecutor and supports victims and witnesses in these ongoing investigations with logistical and legal aid. It also actively monitors the ongoing investigation and pretrial hearings and communicates about the latest developments through its public channels.
For more detailed information on each of these cases and reports of the ongoing pre-trial hearings that have taken place, please visit the Syrian section of our litigation support page.
