What does Austrian justice do against war criminals coming to the country from abroad?

2023-11-16 10:10:38

Remarkable analysis by Kurier Newspaper The news actually directly concerns Turkey. What does the Turkish government and justice do against illegal and legal immigrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who fled to Turkey and committed crimes against humanity? Former German Member of Parliament Mehmet Kılıç, who lives in Germany, announced that Turkish citizens who were once involved in the Sivas Madımak Massacre and wanted with an arrest warrant fled to Germany and worked as refugees or doner kebabs in other ways.

A war crime is a crime for which a person or persons, military or civilian, can be punished under international criminal law for violating the laws of war. These include, in particular, actions such as the killing, ill-treatment or forced labor of civilians, the killing or ill-treatment of prisoners of war, the killing of hostages, the plunder of public and private property, and the unnecessary burning and destruction of cities. In interstate conflicts, every violation of the laws of war is considered a war crime, but violations in intrastate conflicts may not be considered war crimes.

The news published in Kurier is important in this sense and we present it to the attention of our readers by translating it from German into Turkish:

What does Austrian justice do against war criminals coming to the country from abroad?

These two cases are clearly very similar:

Syrian Colonel Enver R. He was the head of investigation for the Syrian secret services and is said to be responsible for numerous murders and torture in Syria.

He was in charge of a prison in Raqqa and allegedly ordered the shooting of demonstrators – at least according to witnesses. General Halid A. There are similar accusations against him. It is claimed that various torture methods are also on the agenda behind bars. Both fled to Europe before 2016, Khaled A. With the assistance of the Israeli secret service Mossad and the Austrian Federal Office for the Prevention of Torture (“Operation White Milk”).

Anwar R. was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity in Koblenz (Germany) last year. Khaled A. has lived undisturbed in Austria until today and denied all allegations when questioned nearly two years ago. The general has reportedly been under investigation for eight years and is currently on trial only for assault. There are even two victims and witnesses living in Austria, and a prominent senior diplomat is applying pressure in the background in this case.

While Sweden has established special prosecutors’ offices and Germany has created its own units within the Federal Criminal Police Office, Austria appears to be taking its time with its investigations. Minister of Justice Alma Zadic, in her response to a parliamentary question of the Neos party, stated that although there are now too many investigations to count due to the volume of work, there has been only one conviction in this country, that is, in Syria, during the twelve-year war in Syria, and a partial imprisonment for genocide in the Feldkirch District Court in Austria. penalty was given.

However, there is neither a special unit nor a special prosecutor’s office for crimes against humanity in Austria. This situation was further exacerbated by a decree issued by the Austrian Ministry of Justice in July 2022, which also aims to regulate the handling of war crimes in the Ukrainian conflict. Accordingly, in order for a war criminal to be convicted, Austria’s interests must be affected. Each case must be examined individually.

Austria’s interests are important

For example, in one case, investigations against several suspects were dropped because only one person tortured an Austrian citizen of Syrian origin in a Syrian prison. “There was no local jurisdiction over these individuals who were not involved in the crimes committed against the victim, who was an Austrian citizen, so it was not possible for the Austrian law enforcement authorities to take action,” the Austrian Parliament document states. Result: The judiciary did not care about the torture of Syrian citizens of Austria.

The Swedish prosecutor’s office might even be interested in taking over the case against Syrian General Khaled A., but for now the case is being handled by the Vienna prosecutor’s office. The Austrian Ministry of Justice emphasizes that there is no instruction on this matter. Currently, not a single trial is being conducted regarding the events in the Ukrainian war. In this context, Neos MP Stephanie Krisper criticizes the lack of a suitable platform for uploading evidence, which was announced months ago. Refugees are also largely uninformed.

Crispy: „Victims or witnesses of war crimes should be questioned quickly and receive prompt assistance. This is something everyone knows, and the Austrian federal government promised it at the beginning of the war, when the influx of refugees from Ukraine began. Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has been going on for almost 2 years, since then nearly 70,000 Ukrainian women have fled to Austria – and not a single investigation has been opened to date! This is the complete irresponsibility of the federal government, especially Minister of Justice Zadic, who has neither established an office nor created adequate resources for the prosecution of the international crimes we demand.“

In any case, Germany does not have such restrictions as Austria: According to Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) on the country’s own website, “No war criminal should feel safe and unpunished anywhere in the world – certainly not in Germany or anywhere in the EU.” His words attracted attention.

Sweden also sees “universal jurisdiction”. Two years ago, an Iranian was sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden for killing prison inmates as a member of the Revolutionary Guard in 1988. Only about two years had passed between arrest and sentencing.