A Spanish court is to investigate allegations that nine members of the Syrian regime committed “state terrorism” by kidnapping, torturing and murdering a truck driver who disappeared in Damascus four years ago. The landmark case – the first criminal complaint accepted against President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces by a European court – has been brought on behalf of the victim’s sister, a Spanish citizen who lives in Madrid. Lawyers acting for the woman, known as Mrs AH, argue that she is the victim of her brother’s forced disappearance, torture and execution – and that the Spanish courts have the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the case.

On Monday, Judge Eloy Velasco of Spain’s national court accepted their arguments and ordered an investigation to be opened.

Details of the driver’s fate emerged after a Syrian forensic officer defected in September 2013, fleeing the country with more than 50,000 photographs. The pictures taken by Caesar – the pseudonym by which he is known – contain images of the bodies of more than 6,000 victims.(the guardian)…[+]