A former Syrian colonel accused of sho0ting protesters in crimes against humanity could face an estimated three-month trial in October next year.
Salem Al-Salem, 58, is likely to deny charges over his alleged activities to quell protests in a suburb of Damascus in 2011, his barrister has indicated.
He faces three counts of murd£r as a crime against humanity, three counts of torture, and one charge of conduct ancillary to murd£r.
Al-Salem’s prosecution is the first of its kind in the UK. It is the first time the Crown Prosecution Service has charged anyone with murd£r as a crime against humanity under the International Criminal Court Act 2001.
The landmark case is only the second prosecution by Scotland Yard’s war crimes team in the past 20 years.
On Friday, the alleged spy, who is on conditional bail, appeared for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey via a video link before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, who said the earliest date he could stand trial currently would be in October 2027.
Asked if he could give an indication of how the defendant might plead, Patrick Gibbs KC, defending, said: ‘I am able to say that the allegations are likely to be contested.’
Al-Salem is accused of involvement in the de@ths of four named people – Omar Al-Homsi, Nizar Fayoumi-AlKhatib, Mohammed Salim Zahrak Balik, and Talhat Dalal – in April and July 2011.
It is said he was ‘responsible for killing’ three of the victims ‘as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population’.
He is accused of ‘conduct ancillary to’ the murder of Mr. Balik.
Al-Salem also faces claims of torture against three people ‘in the performance or purported performance of his official duties’ on dates between August 2011 and March 2012.
Prosecutor Emilie Pottle told the Old Bailey: ‘He was tasked with quelling civilian protests against the regime, and the defendant ordered officers under his command to shoot protesters, and he himself shot protesters.
‘As a result, some individuals died, and the defendant is charged with their murd£r as a crime against humanity.
‘The shooting incidents took place within the context of a wider regime campaign to suppress demonstrations, and the murders were part of a widespread and systemic attack against the civilian population.
‘He is also charged with the torture of civilians held in an intelligence facility in Damascus.
‘The defendant is alleged to have been present during interrogations and on occasion to have inflicted physical harm on detainees himself.
‘These men were beaten, with those subject to electrocution and hanged by handcuffs to hooks on the ceiling.’
At the time of the alleged offences, Salem was serving as a colonel in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence (SAFI) and leading a group of militants that attempted to end demonstrations in the village of Jobar, near Damascus, a court heard previously.
SAFI has previously been described by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights as the ‘most powerful and most brutal’ of Syria’s state security agencies.
Al-Salem has motor neurone disease and is now essentially housebound, the court was told.
He was first arrested on December 1, 2021, and was released on bail until the charges were announced on Monday.
Al-Salem was served with a written notice of the allegations after a four-year investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP)’s war crimes unit.
Commander Helen Flanagan, who leads the unit, said on Monday: ‘This has been an incredibly complex and challenging investigation, involving enquiries across many countries.
‘This has required close cooperation with a number of international partners, as well as our colleagues in the CPS.
‘The charges are extremely serious and show that we fully support the UK’s “no safe haven” policy in relation to alleged war criminals.’
She added: ‘Where we are presented with allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity that fall within our jurisdiction, then, as we have shown here, we will not hesitate to investigate those rigorously and robustly.’
