his life still around. twenty seven years ago but there's no holding back his dreams. and your calling. him in the dark may twenty seventh can down the. hello and a warm welcome to focus on europe thanks for joining us today the hunt is on in europe for the torturers of syrian dictator bashar al assad's regime investigators are closing in on them thanks to thousands of pieces of evidence that were smuggled by witnesses from the ruins of syrian cities the photos and documents are now in

the hands of european investigators their task to prove that the syrian secret service systematically tortured opposition members to death well more than a dozen of these war criminals are believed to be in germany sweden or france disguised as refugees. investigators across europe are determined to identify them and relatives of the victims who fled the murderous regime and came to germany are a valuable source of information people like mariam whom our reporter met on his search for justice. lives in a berlin suburb. she's from syria and part of a major hunt to catch syrian secret service members who committed crimes like these . mari m son aiyar because one of the regime's many victims he was beaten and tortured to death when the syrian civil war broke out. one of his

fellow students even helped torture him he had always been very courteous towards i am and greeted and i knew that you know i don't understand how someone could turn into a torturer and become a monster like that. serious secret service systematically tortured just for speaking up for human rights demanding syria become a democratic country and for urging assad to step down. now eight years after a arms death his mother wants justice. i want the culprits to be brought to justice from the accomplices all the way up to president assad these people are responsible for spilling our children's blood. there are more than twenty six thousand pictures of syrian torture victims smuggled out of the war torn country by a courageous former police were target for they could help convict syrian torturers

and murderers in the coming years their victims and their relatives demand justice like syrian human rights lawyer darvish who was tortured before being able to flee the syrian capital damascus is a few months security center for us in the branches you become like this. many of his friends and political allies in the fight against the assad regime were abused like this no one knows how many people lost their lives. so there is some there is some. i think it was i looked for. people in this. last clue to bunches. of stability among. the boyer shared all of his information with european investigators and has joined human rights organizations in pressing charges against former syrian tormentors.

european police are currently investigating former assad torturers who fled to europe disguised as refugees in february one suspect was arrested in france and two others in germany. among them anwar or who came to the german capital berlin as an asylum seeker. this is a fit of stone it will be a trial. and these cases this is the first time and this is the first time there is a spectacle of the defendant or judge and we have victim and suspect and we saw signs of the law and the state of. we don't have it in syria. we have seen documents showing that germany's federal office of criminal investigation has investigated on more or its suspected involvement with the syrian secret service we have asked the syrian embassy in berlin for a statement it refused to comment. it could be that the prosecution of syrian

torturers seems to be gathering momentum in europe. where at the secret investigative bureau somewhere in europe where bill wiley of the commission of international justice and accountability is working hard to catch syrian criminals . used to hunt war criminals as a un prosecutor now he has access to a vast archive of syrian state documents that could prove crucial in catching assad's henchmen basically. what you have in this room are materials generated by the security intelligence structures of syria the military structures of syria and the bath party or political structures of syria at the top level and the government levels here they are the files documenting the crimes of the syrian regime they have been meticulously cleaned scanned and logged and carefully

analyzed by several dozen investigators. the u.n. trials on crimes committed in former yugoslavia and on the rwandan genocide wiley one thing without a paper trail it is very difficult to bring culprits to justice. that's why these syrian state documents which were smuggled out of the country amid the to mulch of a civil war are so valuable. they comprise interrogation reports and many other files that document figures within the security apparatus that systematically tortured people they also shed light on suspected syrian torturers like anwar are. there. were. more senior ranks as you said or are. maybe more were. people were. don't you. know. there could be worse you're.

sure more serious whether you. are. whose son was murdered by the syrian secret service hopes that not only the killers of her son will be caught but all perpetrators that have gone into hiding will meet justice for her the hunt has just begun. for couples struggling to conceive the journey to parenthood and be heartbreaking but for some their struggle has become a lucrative business surrogacy is booming in ukraine where increasingly more women are offering to carry the children of complete strangers all the country is one of europe's poorest and service you can offer a way out of poverty our reporter visited a clinic in cock have that specializes in these pregnancies. follow

but only a strong shave units of each at all when she moves i talk to her or you know you are in the evening when i read stories to my children when i do the same for the baby when you know you when you talk of sway you it's late february twenty ninth and italia is nine months pregnant with a baby girl it's not her child she's a surrogate mother she's carrying the baby for parents from germany it won't be long now and mr will daughter it's such a joy to hold your own child for the first time i'll be happy for them. natalia his own children are visiting her today for the final months of the pregnancy natalia has to live close to the clinic in kharkiv. normally she lives with her children and her partner dimitra in a town some fifty kilometers away. this is own attalia makes money there is

virtually no work to be had here dimitri overturns the equivalent of about two hundred euros is the rich that of course we aim to give our own children a good start in life. it's not easy to find work here and to support a family. that we made this decision and so our children will be better off. because sure through a little trick you. tell your hopes to pay for her children's education and to become self-employed she's not the first surrogate mother in her time an acquaintance told her she could make a living by helping other couples to have children but many questions remain some practical but also psychological. it's interesting the baby here is russian the whole time inside my belly but then becomes a german child. would. tell you has to say

goodbye to her own family for now. while will say hello to grandma for me couples from all over the world come to this clinic on the outskirts of kharkiv among them the german couple whose baby daughter natalia is carrying they wouldn't talk on camera fearing they would be recognized at home. another woman from germany did talk to us we'll call her ana she's in her early forty's and is unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization six times she and her husband refused to consider adopting a surrogate mother for a donor egg cell was the only option left in germany that's illegal sees this as hypocritical. in germany surrogacy is prohibited even though many well known and wealthy people do so. and then the youth welfare office treats you like the

worst criminals ever. these cases are lucrative for the clinic in hockey. the doctor in charge explains that a surrogate pregnancy with a donor egg brings in at least thirty thousand euros sometimes twice that amount it depends on the specific needs and wishes of the parents ukraine hosts a few hundred surrogate pregnancies each year he says with demand growing customers are coming from as far away as latin america and australia. more and more are coming in ukraine has become a popular destination for would be parents for what they'd have to pay for just one attempt in the u.s. we guarantee a healthy pregnancy here. makes it easy for new parents. about a month after we last met natalia she's back home with her family the baby she carried inside her for nine months is now with her german parents they picked her up right after she was born. plus there were the.

to be honest i did feel pretty confused after the birth they rode by him on the one hand you understand that it's not your child it is the bulls this foot on the other you want to know all about it but the the if you've carried it in you for nine months of. various. but i wouldn't call that the maternal instinct i. know i felt very clearly that it wasn't mine. the rush for normal why your and how do you feel about it. newsnight i missed it somehow of course it's not our child but i got used to it during the pregnancy. when the baby was born it was almost the way it was with our two children play it and i would like to see it again just for you. the german parents want to stay in touch with the surrogate mother to at least they promised they would says natalia would she do it again she

won't rule it out and the demand there is growing and growing. those enjoying life in europe's large cities such as bratislava slovakia have to dig deep in their pockets to rent or buy an apartment or those who can't afford a metropolitan way of life move to rural areas where living costs are much lower many are settling down in the countryside of nearby austria a transition made simple thanks to the freedom of movement in the e.u. well we went to the small village of to see in austria to see what impact the influx from slovakia is having there. it's almost impossible to find an apartment here in bratislava for whatever real estate agent b. artifact a shelter has to offer she finds takers immediately this one for instance sixty square meters for seven hundred fifty euros if it was for sale it might cost some

three thousand euros per square meter virtually an affordable for the average wage of one thousand euros in slovakia's capital if. when people buy an apartment here they go into debt for the rest of their lives for thirty years at least they take out mortgages with all the risks involved that's and i'm going to thank you kiran bratislava wages are a bit higher but even so to rent or buy an apartment here in the center at least two wage earners have to go in on it together. and some people who rent even live three to a flat if the landlord allows it might be. as broad as love a grows and booms many slovaks are moving to neighboring austria. just a ten minute drive takes them out of the big city and across the border into the broad flat austrian countryside. here in two thousand and thirteen the slow but

a family made their dream of a house and garden come true. sonja works as a teacher in broad islam while her husband martin has a business in the tourism sector. now they and their children are austrian residents the cost of living was another important factor. it's because you're comparing the capital a fairly big city with the countryside it's like the edge of the world in austria here in those that i. think most of the people in kid say have no problem with the slovaks but some are uneasy with the rapid growth of the village. one resident says strangers only used to come here during the africa harvest festival. this lately could get me any of the rural characters disappearing more and more. integration is of course not all that easy if you've got one thousand

nine hundred kids a residence trying to integrate fifteen hundred slovaks. it's slow going but it's working yet this. skate always gets your legs. it's working even better for the soccer club the slower his son heinrich is on the team the slovaks are also active in village life. so kids say it is becoming a multicultural community. even though i think sports are a good way to integrate to get the kids playing with each other. and i don't think the younger generation the generation of our children will even be debating this issue in the years to come. to the path to being. well other austrian villages no longer have enough kids for one soccer team kids a has enough for two coach roland has no problem finding new recruits he can't say exactly how many are slovaks. but really there's

a reason for what it's an enormous advantage because so many more kids are here and that means a lot more talented kids in the four years i've been coaching the team the football club has grown immensely box and that's a huge advantage not just for the team but for the community. you know if you do what your reason for thank you. in kid say austria europe is growing together on the playing field says son you're slow but the border that was once the iron curtain between austria and slovakia is fading into oblivion. while eastern european countries like slovakia have already joined the e.u. other nations such as albania are eager for membership but a major hurdle is standing in their way the country has become one of europe's leading hubs for the production and trade of illegal drugs albanian authorities say they are cracking down on the mafia and are keen to promote their success to the

international press while our reporter traveled to the mediterranean coast of albania to see just how big an impact their efforts are really happening. we're accompanying albanian border police on patrol on the mediterranean they want to show us they're getting tough on the mafia which controls the drug trade here. because the italian police are better equipped they're helping the albanians fight the drug smugglers. the officers fly down this fishing boat. they searched the cabin but find nothing suspicious. that we've had smugglers who hid heroin in car tires or oil tanks but open up they get the last time we discover ten kilos of heroin and i don't mean to brag but in the last two years the police and its partners have become more effective and

reduce the drug trade to a minimum. probably the clarity of it but the numbers tell another story in twenty seventeen year old paul the e.u. agency for law enforcement cooperation listed albania as europe's biggest producer of cannabis and a major drug trafficking harb. albania is one of the poorest countries in europe. here the average monthly income is around three hundred thirty euros. they get the capital tirana is full of luxury cars. and the construction industry is booming. where is all the money coming from. journalists are ton hard accompanies us to villages north have to rana that are known for their contract killers he's the only investigative journalist in albania who reports on the mafia as involvement in drug

trafficking it's a wonder he's still alive. here furniture stores suddenly spring up on isolated country roads. who are among those you know it will be worth many of these shops are used to store and process drugs the record production of cannabis in two thousand and sixteen means that for no crime gangs no need to cultivate anymore they have enough in store. registers our presence with the local mafia boss just to be on the safe side. to make sure that nothing happens to him the journalist reports on all forty one clans equally in his t.v. documentaries they're always at war with each other here as whether deadline. just says the whole country.