Khaled al-Halabi, a former Syrian brigadier general who headed the feared Branch 335 intelligence detention facility in Raqqa (a city in northern Syria) under the Assad regime, went on trial in Vienna on Monday, charged with torture, serious bodily harm, and sexual coercion for acts carried out between 2011 and 2013. Prosecutors allege that detainees — many arrested during the Arab Spring crackdowns — were systematically beaten, subjected to water torture, and sexually abused to extract confessions, with 21 survivors joining the case as witnesses. The trial is being conducted under the principle of universal jurisdiction and marks the first time such serious international crimes have been prosecuted in Austria, with al-Halabi the highest-ranking Assad-era official yet to face justice in a Western court.