twenty seven years ago but there's no holding back his dreams. thank you for watching. cinema hearts may twenty seventh. 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 and 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 me have am 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 beads . because one of the regime's many victims he was beaten and tortured to death when the syrian civil war broke out. on one of his fellow students even health torture had. he had always been very courteous towards

i have and greeted him and then you know that you know i don't understand how someone could turn into a torturer and become a monster like that. syria 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 yobs 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 mohsen darvish who was tortured before being able to flee the syrian capital damascus is a few months secluded to settle for us the branches to become like this. many of his friends and political allies in the fight against the regime were abused like this no one knows how many people lost their lives. so there's some there's some. i'd also look for. people in this. school to bunches. of stability among. the boy or 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 who came to the german capital berlin as an asylum seeker. this is the first phone to be a player. in this cases this is the first time. this is the first time there's a respectable independent. court judge and we have victim and suspect and we saw signs of the law and the state of florida 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 . he 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 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 human 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. you know were the documents could imagine. there could be more you're. sure more serious whether you.

are. a lock 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 well you know you

are in the evening when i read stories to my children and i do the same for the baby when you know you know when you can you talk us where you it's late february twenty ninth deed in italian 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 good news there will daughters it's such a joy to hold your own child for the first time i'll be happy for them. natalia's 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 demitra earns the equivalent of about two hundred

euros is that which that of course we aim to give our own children a good start in life.