Mohammed Hammo, a former Syrian officer, is being prosecuted in Sweden today (Monday) for his involvement in war crimes committed in 2012, marking the highest-ranking Syrian military officer to face trial in Europe concerning the conflict in Syria, as reported by the French Press Agency.
Hammo, 65, who now resides in Sweden and previously held the rank of brigadier general in the army, is accused of “aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes during the conflict,” an offense that carries a potential life sentence.
The conflict in Syria erupted following popular protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in March 2011, which were violently suppressed by the authorities. The ongoing conflict has resulted in over half a million deaths, extensive damage to infrastructure and productive sectors, and has displaced millions of people both within and outside the country.
According to the indictment, Hammo contributed through “advice and action” to military operations that “systematically included random attacks on several towns on the outskirts and inside the cities of Hama and Homs.”
The charges cover the period from January 1 to July 20, 2012, and the trial is expected to last until late May.
The prosecution stated that the Assad-aligned forces’ battles “included extensive aerial and ground attacks by unknown perpetrators within the Syrian army ranks,” conducted indiscriminately without distinguishing between civilian and military targets as required by international law.
The indictment further added that Hammo, who was in charge of an armament unit, assisted in the coordination and arming of combat units, thus facilitating the execution of orders at a “practical level.”
Hammo’s lawyer, Marie Kellman, informed the agency that her client denies committing any crimes but chose not to comment further before the trial begins.
Seven civilian parties, including Syrians from Hama and Homs and a British photographer injured during one of the attacks mentioned in the indictment, are expected to testify during the trial.
Aida Samani, Senior Legal Advisor at the Civil Rights Defenders organization, told the agency that “the attacks in Homs, Hama, and their surroundings in 2012 caused significant harm to civilians and massive destruction of civilian properties.”
She emphasized that similar actions were systematically repeated by the Syrian army in other cities across Syria, occurring with “complete impunity.”
Samani explained that Hammo’s trial would be the first in Europe to deal with this pattern of random attacks by the Syrian army and “will provide the first opportunity for the victims of these attacks to be heard in an independent court.”
While Hammo is the highest-ranking Syrian officer tried in Europe, other countries on the continent have sought to charge officials of higher ranks.
In March, the Swiss public prosecutor decided to prosecute Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of President Bashar al-Assad, for war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to events from the 1980s.
Although a trial date has not yet been set, it is unlikely that Rifaat al-Assad will appear before the Swiss judiciary. He returned to his home country in 2021 after 37 years in exile and has not been seen in public since then, except in photos with family members, including the current president, in April 2023.
In November, French authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad on charges of complicity in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity related to chemical attacks in 2023.
International arrest warrants have also been issued for his brother Maher al-Assad and two other senior officers.
In January 2022, former intelligence colonel Anwar Raslan was sentenced to life imprisonment in Koblenz, Germany, for crimes against humanity, in the world’s first trial of violations committed by officials in the Syrian regime during the conflict.
