The Federal Prosecutor’s Office had a man arrested in Berlin on Wednesday on charges of war crimes, murder and assault committed in Syria. He allegedly fired a grenade from an anti-tank weapon into a crowd in a square in the capital Damascus in March 2014. At least seven people were killed. At least three were seriously injured, including a six-year-old child. They were civilians waiting for food parcels from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East.
The accused Syrian was a member of the group “Free Palestine Movement” at the time, as the authority in Karlsruhe announced. Previously, he had belonged to the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command”. These armed militias had exercised control over the affected district of Damascus, which originated from a Palestinian refugee camp, on behalf of the Syrian regime. In the meantime, the area had been completely sealed off. The result was a lack of food, water and medical care.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses the man of war crimes, seven counts of murder and three counts of dangerous bodily harm. An investigating judge of the Federal Supreme Court was to decide on Wednesday whether he would be remanded in custody. Officials of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office had also searched the accused’s flat in the federal capital during the morning raid.A spokeswoman for the police in Berlin added that the Federal Prosecutor General had called on the Berlin State Criminal Police Office 2020 to investigate the case. The arrest warrant against the 54-year-old accused Syrian was issued on Wednesday morning in the Berlin district of Treptow and executed by investigators of the State Criminal Police Office (LKA).