Syria’s first public trial of Assad and allies opens in Damascus

The first public trial in Syria of officials linked to the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad opened in Damascus Sunday. Assad himself and his brother, Maher, former commander of the Syrian military's 4th Armored Division — which Syrian opposition activists have accused of killings, torture, extortion and drug trafficking, in addition to running its own detention centers — were charged in absentia, along with a number of other former high-ranking security officials.