and i was beaten if mr and why did not like my answer to a question. of the. survivors are also attending the trial and hoping for justice. journalist who know what father is on her way to the higher reaches court in co blinds or the trial has been underway for a year so far she has not missed a day in court if i say i don't know what i will hear and i don't know he will cause. sometimes i'm anxious but on the other hand i know i'm going to him and he said details in this call session. or other court sessions. who are. does not yet know which witness or joint plaintive will testify today

because the court is keeping the name sealed the fear of assad's long reach is so great that witnesses and joint plaintiffs are intimidated in the courtroom luna whose name has been changed to protect her identity is the only syrian journalist following the trial here she is doing this for all of the syrians who cannot be present for her this is not about journalistic responsibility this is a fish to show me why this is very important to me because i am also a former political prisoner from the same wallet at al qa t. prison. and when the witnesses give their testimonies the stories here i also have my story in fact i am also writing my story behind the scenes. are as allegedly responsible for these accounts of torture that are being discussed

in court he is charged with crimes against humanity $58.00 counts of murder torture in at least $4000.00 cases and rape his personal culpability is being tried in copeland's but as he sits in the dock he represents the entire assad regime. was it was also tortured by n y r r when he was on his way to a demonstration in syria in september 20th levon he was arrested and taken to the prison a notorious torture facility where and are was in charge. when i was interrogated 3 times over the course of 5 days a year that each time i was interrogated allegedly by and why are what he said i am the interrogator at this exact been deaf and gave the orders and he told others to beat me so i was beaten if mr and water did not like my acid to a question. which good fun. wassim tells us that he shared

a 22 square meter cell with 87 other people they all took turns sleeping in a seated position security guards broke his ribs during the interrogation wassim did not tell n y r r that he is a musician. it differs in the interrogation i was always afraid that they would beat my hands if a hand would be broken or a finger removed or something like that it would be a disaster for me. and. my leg they always told me to lay on my stomach with it and put my feet in the air and laid on my stomach and placed my hands beneath my chest just. in part to support my ribs because it was painful to lie on my stomach the health of them. but also to protect my hands with it no matter where they hit me they didn't reach my hands. on that was all i could do besides being dead to protect

them i was afraid for my hands and for my life but at least there was something i could do about my hands. mine a hand at this and that was my personal kind of resistance that's one. of us to stop. those seem continues to resist today here in berlin in front of the reichstag the german parliament he and other like minded people are calling for an end of the assad regime. is playing revolutionary songs for his fellow comrades in support of a free and democratic syria. put a silence reach is long his regime exerts a strong influence on witnesses and joint plaintiffs in germany their families who are still in syria report instances of intimidation nevertheless

a cmos testified in court and human rights lawyer should monocytes says this is important. that everyone was screaming for sure and he. wouldn't let me say. the night of the and the lump be it will maybe it will be and then they make this enormous phone is committing. to fall on the head of. the law are going to know or won't be giving me a homo ardmore what this theory and more did for the human died for training. was not be one. or the 2nd who by the time luna want full was imprisoned in a hut and where our was already gone having defected to the opposition as one of their intelligence officers he applied for asylum in germany when he told the

authorities about his past they arrested him under the principle of universal jurisdiction that allows a state to prosecute crimes against humanity even if. it took place outside of their territory and even if neither the perpetrators nor the victims are citizens of that state since then you know what fire has heard and seen many cruel stories in the courtroom this was one of the most difficult moments for her. the caesar photographs pictures taken by a former syrian military photographer referred to by the family as caesar who secretly combi them while still working for the regime and later smuggled them out of the country now in kabul and they are evidence of the assad regime's torture methods. to see victims depicted in this way without being able to change anything i can only sit behind the witnesses and

record that testimony but i can't change anything in syria. and this is the sion was really really pat on the never forget the photo. example that i tried not to see those photos the tool the guns so i guess in this particular court session. it was necessary. that's one less than a saw the caesar photos for the 1st time shortly after they were published in 2014 during which time she was an active protester in syria and from that moment on she knew exactly what she was facing even so she continued to go to demonstrations when people were killed in a chemical weapons attack she took photos of the graves sent them abroad and was arrested. and of that sandwich over there an officer asked me to give him the names of others who worked with me i said there were no others but i worked all by myself

. and at that point he laughed and said. ok you don't want to be co-operative with us so that's why i will take your kids. during the entire year that no was in prison she was afraid for her children only later did she learn that they were never arrested so. far lona it's the end of another day in court she's reporting live on the events today for the arabic channel event news and she's about to interview one of the joint plaintiffs. takes a many other witnesses before have been it was not easy for this witness to tell his story and they remember how awful things that happened and are forced to realize that if a bad feelings they don't want to remember. this is no you don't have suffered with each testimony she is also reminded of her torture in prison you know

wants to know what it was like for the witness today. we're getting of questions from a german court it was also very sad to judge this guy in front of the german court . we have to judge the same person and other people in our syrian courts as well. here in berlin revolutionaries would also prefer to see the main defendant tried in a syrian court but they are confident that copeland's is at least the 1st step toward justice ideas the syrians never had a place to talk about our ideas equity or justice and now we have this opportunity because of the copelands trial get the biggest that they got that for the 1st time and we actually need justice for syria among them but not just that it's that this man has committed certain crimes against syria and it's and this is the criminal trial against that man against him but not against the regime exactly but

copeland's is very important because this case represents the whole government the whole syrian government is a criminal i agree because it systematic not an isolated case is the at the 1st step but i'm hopeful that me too me too. i think that it. was even the other revolutionaries hope assad will also have to stand trial at some point some of the people here are sure that the trial is already leaving its mark on syria and the lawyer on maher albany is one of them he has helped prepare many of the lawsuits but i am sure they do this day separately i am. sure the crimean that is now. up to it. would be gone. through with

a wife. but. no one on the other hand doesn't believe the trial has changed anything in syria so far. here at home in copeland's she jots down her thoughts from the courtroom and marks the locations of mass graves on maps luna who has asylum has been in germany since 2015 she and her children are safe here and that makes her happy the trial in koblenz is changing her life. i think about what has happened to other prisoners in syria all the time. for example what happened to the women who were in my cell. service their fate. i don't know nobody no use. the regime is still torturing tens of thousands of syrians you know what is documenting this process for them to so that she can say he did not stand idly by

while this happened.

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