LONDON: The government of the Syrian Arab Republic has offered to cooperate with EU members in investigating individuals from the ousted Bashar Assad regime who are complicit in war crimes during the civil war, which lasted from 2011 to 2024.
The Syrian Interior Ministry announced its readiness to grant access to European investigators to official government records, witnesses, and crime scenes to help achieve justice for victims of the Assad regime’s violent suppression of protests.
The spokesman for the Syrian Interior Ministry, Nour Eddin al-Baba, announced that authorities would soon release a list of approximately 1,000 wanted individuals, which includes former officers and officials, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
He said that many former members of the Assad regime, who were part of the security agencies, are now living in Europe, including Sweden, where authorities have identified 15 of these individuals.
Swedish prosecutor Reena Devgun emphasized that European countries should not become safe havens for Assad-era officials accused of serious violations, according to SANA.
Germany, Sweden, France, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands have prosecuted officials from the former Assad regime for state-sponsored torture and crimes against humanity. On Monday, a former Syrian intelligence chief from the city of Raqqa went on trial in Austria, facing charges of torture and sexual abuse against anti-Assad activists.
