An ex-Syrian general and a former senior Syrian police officer go on trial in Vienna on Monday, accused of torturing opponents of the now-deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad.
State prosecutors in Vienna said in a statement the two were accused "of having, on numerous occasions, ordered or failed to oppose the mistreatment of members of a protest movement".
The defendants, a former brigadier general in the Syrian intelligence services and a former head of the investigations office of the local criminal police, are said to have committed the crimes in Raqqa between April 2011 and March 2013.
The prosecutors' statement did not name the defendants, in line with their procedure before any court verdict is handed down, said AFP.
The Austrian newspaper Der Standard named the intelligence officer as Brigadier General Khaled al-Halabi.
The APA news agency said he has been in pretrial detention since late 2024.
The New York Times, in November, named al-Halabi and gave his co-accused's name as Lieutenant Colonel Musab Abu Rukbah, citing his defense lawyer.
- Residing in Austria -
The two Syrians applied for asylum in Austria in 2015 and have resided in the Central European country ever since.
The Austrian prosecutors alleged in their statement: "On the orders of the central government and the National Security Bureau of the Syrian Arab Republic, 21 individuals detained in prisons were tortured and abused as part of the crackdown on a civilian protest movement."
At the time of the intelligence officer's indictment, activists considered him the highest-ranking Syrian official responsible for abuses present in Europe.
He is charged with torture, aggravated coercion, sexual coercion, as well as multiple counts of serious bodily harm, and faces up to 10 years in prison.
The police officer is accused of serious bodily harm, aggravated coercion and sexual coercion, likewise facing up to ten years in prison.
The 10-year statute of limitations that would ordinarily apply was lifted, the indictment said.
International treaties including the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court meant prosecutors were obliged to bring charges, they said.
Austrian law provides for the jurisdiction of local courts over certain offences committed abroad.
- Alleged victims to testify -
The Vienna court has jurisdiction because the defendants reside there. Thirteen hearing days are scheduled through June 30.
Alleged victims who are residing in Syria and Europe are expected to testify.
Anwar al-Bunni, a Syrian lawyer based in Germany who himself spent five years in Syrian prisons, said the general should have faced additional charges.
He called the trial "important" but told AFP: "I don't know really why they don't charge him with crimes against humanity".
Senior Austrian officials suspected of having protected the former brigadier general were acquitted in 2023 on the basis of reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors had accused them of helping him obtain protection in the alpine country, referencing an agreement allegedly concluded in May 2015 with the Israeli Mossad.
The Mossad are said to have exfiltrated the Syrian military officer from France, where he was at the time, and brought him to Austria.
In 2016, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), a group that gathers evidence for alleged war criminals, informed Vienna of al-Halabi's alleged crimes.
According to APA, the agreement with the Mossad, code-named "White Milk", had been overseen by Martin Weiss, then head of the Austrian intelligence service (BVT).
Weiss is on the run and wanted for supposed links to another fugitive Austrian spy, Jan Marsalek, who is suspected of being protected by Moscow.
Tatiana Urdaneta Wittek of the Centre for the Enforcement of Human Rights International (CEHRI), a lawyer representing 18 of the 21 alleged victims, told APA that there was a danger that Austria was providing shelter to perpetrators.
"Austria must not become a refuge for war criminals," she said.
