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Teen shot after running over police officer

A 16-year-old-boy was shot by police in Gothenburg early Thursday morning after the vehicle the teen was driving hit an officer in what police believe was a deliberate attempt to run the officer over.

Published: 23 December 2011 14:37 CET

Both boy and officer survived the incident without severe injuries, but the teenager has now been arrested on suspicion of attempted manslaughter.

“It’s a good thing he isn’t more seriously injured,” said police spokeswoman Ulla Brehmm about the 16-year-old to local newspaper Göteborgs-Posten (GP).

She explained that the teen was released from Östra Hospital on Friday morning, and taken to the police station for interrogation.

The incident occurred just after midnight on Friday morning

Police attempted to stop the car, which was wanted. Instead of stopping, the driver attempted to run over one of the police officer.

The driver then drove off from the spot, and police dogs later managed to track the car to Munkebäcksmotet in Gothenburg, where it was found deserted.

The shot 16 year-old made his own way to Östra Hospital.

The injured police officer, also the one who fired shots, has been able to file a report on the incident.

“The person is naturally shaken. The physical injuries aren’t serious, but they could’ve been devastating. The feeling of someone trying to run you over is terrible,” said Brehm.

Peter Weisheit lives on the street where the incident occurred, and witnessed the dramatic events from his apartment.

“First I heard a car revving up, which then clearly drove off at high speed. Directly afterwards I heard a single shot fired. Then I ran out, and took a picture of the police patrol still at the spot. The police officers looked a little stressed, and only stayed a short while before driving off,” Weisheit told GP.

“It was all over in a matter of minutes.”

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Top-ranking Syrian military official to face trial in Sweden

Sixty-five-year-old former Syrian brigadier general Mohammed Hamo, who lives in Sweden, stands accused of “aiding and abetting” war crimes during Syria’s civil war, which can carry a sentence of life in jail.

The war in Syria between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and armed opposition groups, including the Islamic State, erupted after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.

It has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions, and ravaged the country’s economy and infrastructure.

According to the charge sheet, Hamo contributed – through “advice and action” – to the Syrian army’s warfare, “which systematically involved indiscriminate attacks on several towns or places in the area in and around the towns of Hama and Homs”.

The charges concern the period of January 1st to July 20th, 2012 and the trial is expected to last until late May.

Prosecutors say that the Syrian army’s “warfare has included widespread air and ground attacks by unknown perpetrators within the Syrian army”.

The prosecution argues that strikes were carried out without distinction – as required by international law – between civilian and military targets.

In his role as a brigadier general and head of an armament division, he allegedly helped with the coordination and supply of arms to units, enabling the carrying out of orders on an “operational level”.

Hamo’s lawyer, Mari Kilman, told AFP that her client denied committing a crime but said she did not wish to comment further ahead of the trial.

Several plaintiffs are due to testify at the trial, including Syrians from the cities in question and a British photographer who was injured during one of the strikes.

‘Complete impunity’

“The attacks in and around Homs and Hama in 2012 resulted in widespread civilian harm and an immense destruction of civilian properties,” Aida Samani, senior legal advisor at rights group Civil Rights Defenders, told AFP.

“The same conduct has been repeated systematically by the Syrian army in other cities across Syria with complete impunity,” she continued.

This trial will be the first in Europe “to address these types of indiscriminate attacks by the Syrian army”, according to Samani, who added that it “will be the first opportunity for victims of the attacks to have their voices heard in an independent court”.

Hamo is the highest-ranking military official to actually go on trial in Europe, but other European countries have also tried to bring charges against even more senior members.

In March, Swiss prosecutors charged Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of president Bashar al-Assad, with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

However, it remains unlikely Rifaat al-Assad – who recently returned to Syria after 37 years in exile – will show up in person for the trial, for which a date has yet to be set.

Swiss law allows for trials in absentia under certain conditions.

Last November, France issued an international arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad himself, who stands accused of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes over chemical attacks in 2013.

Three other international warrants were also issued for the arrests of Bashar al-Assad’s brother Maher, the de-facto chief of the Fourth Division – an elite military unit of the Syrian army – and two generals.

In January of 2022, a German court sentenced former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan to life in jail for crimes against humanity in the first global trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria, which was hailed by victims as a victory for justice.

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