International Research and Documentation Center TRIAL OF ANWAR RASLAN Higher Regional Court – Koblenz, Germany Trial Monitoring Report 33 Hearing Dates: April 14 & 15, 2021 CAUTION: Some testimony includes descriptions of torture. Summaries/Highlights:1 Trial Day 69 – April 14, 2021 P32, a 28-year-old Syrian woman testified about a meeting she and her family had with Raslan while searching for P32’s sisters who were detained in Al-Khatib Branch. P32 also testified about her own detention at the Branch, detailing torture and incidents of sexual violence she endured. She further spoke about another meeting she had with Raslan while she was detained, claiming he refused her request to be transferred out of solitary confinement so that she would not lose her mind. Trial Day 70 – April 15, 2021 Raslan’s defense read out a statement from Raslan, providing his view on the meetings he had with P32. When asked by the prosecutors, P32 reacted to Raslan’s statement by saying she had to defend herself against a criminal’s accusations and he was denying everything she told the court. The Judges read out a notice to the parties to inform them that previous plaintiff testimonies gave rise to the possibility of charging certain crimes that these plaintiffs were victims of as ordinary crimes under domestic German criminal law. The judges will further request an expertise on Syrian law relating to the alleged crimes. The prosecutors read their statement reacting to the defense’s request to take additional evidence allegedly debunking Raslan’s alleged involvement in activities outside of Branch 251. The prosecutors said they do not support this request as the proposed witnesses would not be suitable to testify in this regard, nor would their testimonies provide new information. Another witness scheduled for one of the following sessions preferred not to testify in court due to concerns about his family’s safety, despite protective measures proposed by the court. One of the plaintiffs requested to no longer be a plaintiff in the trial. Day 69 of Trial – April 14, 2021 The hearing began at 9:30 am with ten spectators and six members of the press in the audience. One accredited journalist requested access to the Arabic interpretation. P30 and a court illustrator were among the spectators. The prosecution was represented by prosecutors Klinge and Polz. 1 Throughout this report, [information located in brackets are notes from our trial monitor] and “information placed in quotes are statements made by the witness, judges or counsel.” Note that this report does not purport to be a transcript of the trial; it is merely an unofficial summary of the proceedings. The names of witnesses have been redacted. 1 International Research and Documentation Center Testimony of P322 P32 was accompanied by her witness counsel, Dr. Kroker, and informed about her rights and duties as a witness. P32 said that she was 28 years old, living in Switzerland and was not related to the defendant by blood or marriage. Judge Kerber’s Questioning Presiding Judge Kerber started her questioning by recalling that P32 was previously interviewed by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and asked P32 to describe her arrest in Syria, the events leading to her arrest and how she got in conflict with the Syrian regime. P32 explained that her sister [sister 1] was detained on March 15, 2011. P32 said she wanted to mention this detail before describing massacre الحولة her own experience. She continued by explaining that on May 25, 2012, the Al-Houla was committed in Homs, causing the death of 50 children. P32 further recalled that May 25, 2012, was a Friday and on Sunday, May 27, 2012, a sit-in was organized as condemnation of the massacre. The sit-in coincided with the anniversary of the death of a child named [name redacted]. P32 and others in Damascus. The protestors held banners and الطليا ن therefore participated in a sit-in in Al-Talyani [name redacted] picture. The slogans on the banners condemned the Al-Houla massacre. P32 was holding a sign saying “The children of Al-Houla are no terrorists” which was discrediting the regime’s narrative that the revolution consisted only of terrorists and armed people. P32 recalled that after only a few minutes, shots were fired. The protesters did not scream, they were simply standing, holding their banners. P32 said they later found out that the regime knew that the sit- in would take place, the shots that were fired were proof of that knowledge. When the first shots were a district close to Al-Talyani. There ,الروضة fired, the protesters ran away. P32 said she went to Al-Rawda were only a few people. Two security officers on a motorcycle stopped her and asked what she was doing there. P32 told them that she was at the market (the area was known to be a shopping area). The officers then asked P32 for her ID and when they read her name, they said “Ah! You are [sister 1]’s sister” and menacingly added: “you came to us with your own legs.” P32 told the court she was wearing glasses that day. When one of the officers slapped her face, her glasses broke, and her nose started bleeding. P23 further described [using her hands] that there was a street and to her right was a real- estate office. The two security officers forcefully evacuated the real-estate employees, pulled P32 inside and forced her to sit on a chair. P32 said one of the security officers called a van to pick her up, the other one pointed a rifle at her, holding it close to her face. P32 sat on the chair when one of the officers who was standing told her “I swear to god, if it was up to me to decide your faith, I would [he made a noise like pulling a trigger, indicating he would kill her]”. P32 further explained that her mother was at the sit-in as well. However, not to demonstrate but because she was worried about P32. Before P32 was approached by the two security officers, she tried to call her mother but could not reach her. P32 recalled that once the security van came, she saw her mother inside, when she was pulled in as well. Her mother’s hands were behind her back and she was looking down. The bus was full of male and female detainees and the seat next to her mother was free. For a short moment, P32 thought her case might be bigger and she did not want the officers to know that this was her mother, so she would not get involved. However, P32 approached her mother, asking if she could sit next to her. 2 Note from the Trial Monitor: P23 was very emotional during the entire testimony. She also sometimes corrected the interpreter by making him aware that he did not translate the end of her sentence. 2 International Research and Documentation Center الجرس They looked at each other and cried. P32 said the van drove for a few minutes to Al-Jisr Al-Abyad It was known that there was Hafez Makhlouf’s branch [Division 40]. P32 recalled that when they .اﻷبيض arrived at the division and got off the van, they had to go upstairs. There was a member of the security forces standing on every other step. These members of the security forces were young. They were heavily beating the people [detainees] passing by, until the detainees reached a small corridor at the end of the staircase. P32 said after this procedure, all detainees had to face the wall and cover their eyes with their hands, so they could not see what was going on around them. P32 said this was when the Division’s IT officer approached her, holding many papers and documents. He told her all the papers would be for P32, as if he wanted to tell her that she was wanted and now came to the Division by herself. He pulled sheets of paper, reading out one of P32’s Facebook posts in which she said that all pro-regime people would be slaves. The IT officer shouted at her “Are we slaves, you bitch?”. P32 apologized for using this word in a courtroom, adding that she assumes everyone in the courtroom would know that this was one of the less bad words used at the intelligence branches. P32 went on to explain, that men and women were separated. The girls were taken to a room where they had to stay for 10 hours. P32 described how she asked to use the toilet before her interrogation. She then saw a man who she thought was a policeman and asked him for a phone. She said she was in hysterics because she urgently wanted to talk to her father or sister. When the policeman asked P32 what she would give him in return, she told him she would give him ‘whatever he wanted.’ He allowed her to make a call and P32 returned to the room from where she came.3 P32 said she was interrogated by the “hacker” [IT-person, see context above]. She entered his office where he was waiting with another person. He then requested access to her Facebook account through her email address and password. The person also told P32 that she tried to bribe a police officer, which would be a serious crime leading to imprisonment. P32 explained to the court that because she was participating in demonstrations, she had contact with a person living abroad who specialized in IT and knew whenever she wanted to demonstrate.