It's been more than a decade since the Syrian regime started sending tanks and warplanes

to put down a popular uprising.

That triggered a bloody civil war that's still going on.

This year, there's a glimmer of hope in the form of justice.

For the Syrian community, this trial is still a breathtaking moment.

Ahmed Amjahad is a journalist in Germany, where a court has been holding Syrian officials

accountable for their war crimes.

Back in February, a former Syrian security officer, Yad Al-Gharib, was convicted of

aiding and abetting torture.

He had rounded up anti-government protesters and brought them to a notorious detention

facility.

Now in jail serving a sentence of more than four years.

He just told the story that he had no choice but to obey the orders that he was given

from his superiors.

Fritz Streif is a human rights attorney and hosts a podcast called Branch 251 that covers

these trials.

Someone like that, of course, at some point did have a choice.

Someone like that joined these services and this regime years ago.

Did he have a choice then?

There are two key reasons cases like these are being tried in Germany.

For one, the country is home to more than 800,000 Syrian refugees, some of whom directly witnessed

these war crimes.

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