We keep hearing about cases across Europe where victims of war crimes or torture are seeing their former torturers or prison guards now in court here in Europe. Like the case in Koblenz, which we’ve covered here – the first criminal trial involving state torture in Syria. The crimes were committed in Syria, the accused are Syrians, as are the survivors. But the court is in Germany.

In October three big NGOs who work in this area, FIDH, ECCHR and Redress brought out a report that said despite everything, there are still lots of barriers preventing victims from effectively participating in these kinds of proceedings.  

We got the report’s author Sarah Finnin, FIDH EU Survivors’ Rights Project Coordinator and practising lawyer Patrick Kroker, who’s responsible for ECCHR’s work on Syria to tell us more.

Patrick is reading Sangue Guisto (the Rightful Blood) by Italian author Francesca Melandri and Sarah recommended a podcast by Canadian Myrna McCallum called The Trauma Informed Lawyer and takes long walks with her lovely dog to unwind.

This podcast has been produced as part of a partnership with JusticeInfo.net, an independent website in French and English covering justice initiatives in countries dealing with serious violence. It is a media outlet of Fondation Hirondelle, based in Lausanne, Switzerland.