From https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56160486
Eyad al-Gharib was a relatively low-level operative among thousands of others in the Syrian regime's highly developed network of coercion and repression.
The verdict is a legal landmark. The prosecution was intended as a test case, to build up a body of evidence about the actions of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad that could be used in other trials, not just in Germany.
Al-Gharib's conviction starts to chip away at any sense of impunity felt by Syrians
still working for the regime who might be involved with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The German human rights lawyers behind the case have spent years using the principle of universal jurisdiction to reach out across borders to pursue other allegations. Their targets have included the former US President George W Bush for crimes including violations of the UN Convention against Torture.
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