Trial in Frankfurt: The doctor from Syria (left) in the security room of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt next to his lawyer Ulrich Endres.
Image: dpa
For years he worked unrecognized in Germany, although he is said to have committed atrocities in his home country. Now a Syrian doctor has to answer to allegations of torture before the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt.
Dhe first day of the hearing has been going on for exactly two hours when the presiding judge read out a document. It is a certificate of license to practice medicine, issued in May 2015 by a Syrian authority, original language Arabic, German translation. The doctor Alaa M., it says, has received his license to practice medicine. Then it says: M. did not commit any professional violations.
Meanwhile, the man the letter is about is sitting in the dock of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt: Neatly groomed, blue suit, white shirt, he answers the judges of the State Security Senate politely and in good German. Alaa M. is 36 years old, a specialist in orthopedics and, according to the federal prosecutor’s office, the opposite of what the Syrian authorities have certified.
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