The man is being prosecuted for two cases of serious war crimes, also known as war crimes, in the Syrian Yarmuk south of the capital Damascus.
The events took place while the civil war was raging, in 2012 and 2013.
One of the cases concerns participation in an attack on a peaceful demonstration on July 13, 2012, where about ten civilians were shot to death and several were injured in an attack by forces loyal to Syria's then-dictator Bashar al-Assad.
We have claimed that he held the weapon, and that he was involved and took part in the joint attack, says Ulrika Bentelius Egelrud, senior prosecutor.
From mild to severe suffering
The man is also being prosecuted for manning a roadblock and participating in the arrest of civilians at the roadblock, in connection with Yarmuk being besieged by the Syrian regime and regime-loyal militias.
A large number of civilians were arrested at the roadblock and handed over to the Syrian security service during the feared dictator Bashar al-Assad's rule, which led to severe suffering and in several cases to people dying, according to the prosecution.
The man is said to have acted as part of a regime-loyal armed militia.
“The crime should be considered serious because several people have been killed, tortured and subjected to severe suffering and inhuman treatment”, it says in a press release from the Prosecution Authority.
The investigation began after a tip via the Migration Agency. The man had by then been in Sweden "relatively long" and was already a Swedish citizen.
”Mostly hearsay”
The man denies the allegations, says Sargon de Basso, one of his lawyers.
The prosecution is in the liability section in principle exclusively based on oral evidence, mostly hearsay, says de Basso.
The investigation has been carried out in collaboration with Germany and several other European countries. A large number of people have been interviewed, both in Sweden and abroad, according to the Prosecution Authority.
