(AP) Human rights campaigners and torture survivors are closely watching a verdict expected from a German court Wednesday in the trial of a former member of the Syrian secret police, hoping the decision will set a precedent for other cases.
Eyad Al-Gharib is accused of being part of a unit that arrested people following anti-government protests in the Syrian city of Douma and took them to a detention center known as Al Khatib, or Branch 251, where they were tortured.
Al-Gharib went on trial last year with Anwar Raslan, a more senior Syrian ex-official who is accused of overseeing the abuse of detainees at the same jail near Damascus.
The trial of the two men is considered a legal landmark because it is the first time that a court outside Syria will have ruled in a case alleging Syrian government officials committed crimes against humanity.
