On 13 January 2022, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz (Germany) sentenced a former Syrian intelligence official to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity related to systematic torture and abuses in detention.
The case is widely treated as a milestone for universal jurisdiction in Europe: national courts using domestic law to prosecute grave international crimes committed abroad, when the suspects are present and evidence can be assembled. It has influenced how European institutions coordinate war‑crimes investigations and evidence sharing.