Tracking Down Assad’s Henchmen | DW Documentary

Syrian refugees escape to Germany, only to come face to face with war criminals from their homeland. Many live here freely under a false name. And they’re well connected. What is Germany doing to track down President Bashar al-Assad’s henchmen?
In 2016, Ahmad fled the northern city of Aleppo, which saw some of the worst fighting in Syria’s civil war. He fled the air raids, the snipers and many atrocities committed by the warring parties. In Germany Ahmad felt secure for the first time. But now he and his family no longer feel safe - not since they learned that a man from their homeland, who they say is a war criminal, is living less than an hour’s drive away. "I know what this man was capable of in Syria, of course I’m afraid. Germany is a state with the rule of law. How can this criminal be allowed to roam around freely?” he asks. The concerned father tells how the man committed one atrocity after another during the war: "I know that he prevented doctors from treating the injured. I saw how he abused minors and got them to fight in the war. I was there when he gave the order to shoot at civilians.” German investigators have received thousands of tips like this. The challenge for them is to filter out which ones are genuine and can be corroborated. In months of painstaking work, a team of reporters has managed to track down alleged war criminals who’ve been living freely in Germany, to confront them with their actions. The reporters also accompanied torture victims as they gave statements against their former tormentors. And the team spoke to international organizations that are working to put suspected Syrian war criminals on trial.
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