VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — An ex-Syrian general and a former senior Syrian police officer pleaded not guilty on Monday to torturing opponents of ousted president Bashar al-Assad as their trial started in Vienna.

The two face charges including torture, aggravated coercion, sexual coercion and inflicting serious bodily harm. Prosecutors accused them of “having, on numerous occasions, ordered or failed to oppose the mistreatment of members of a protest movement.”

Brigadier General Khaled al-Halabi, 63, a former Syrian intelligence officer who has been in pre-trial detention since 2024, and Lieutenant Colonel Musab Abu Rukbah, a 54-year-old former police chief, are said to have committed the crimes in the city of Raqqa between April 2011 and March 2013.

Both pleaded not guilty.

Several similar cases relating to crimes committed during the Syrian civil war have been tried in other countries, including Germany, France and Sweden.

Halabi — a Druze, who fled Raqqa in 2013, just before the Islamic State group overran the city — denied that torture took place while he was in command.

“There were no instructions” from the government to use violence, he told the court through a translator as masked, armed police stood watch.

He added that his unit just took down the personal details of those held and did not conduct any investigations.

Abu Rukbah did not testify. His lawyer, Philipp Wolm, said there was no evidence against him.

‘Standardized torture methods’

The prosecution said Halabi got “direct instructions” from the........

© The Times of Israel