Federal prosecutor's office arrests suspected war criminal in Rhineland-Palatinate

The Federal Prosecutor's Office has had a man arrested in Rhineland-Palatinate for suspected war crimes in Syria. In 2015, Ibrahim A. is said to have arrested and killed alleged members of the Syrian government of then long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad as part of an opposition militia.

The Syrian national will be brought before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe today, who will decide on pre-trial detention. The man initially belonged to the state armed forces in Syria, but joined the opposition militia as a commander in 2012 at the latest, according to the federal prosecutor's office.

Ibrahim A. is said to have executed prisoners

Together with others, he arrested three alleged members of the Syrian government in 2015. “The prisoners were forced to confess to attacks on the accused and other members of his militia,” the statement continued.

The accused later executed them by shooting them in the head “from close range”.

Officials from the Rhineland-Palatinate State Criminal Police Office arrested the Syrian in Neuwied in the morning. The federal prosecutor's office accuses him of war crimes against people by killing them.