The Guardian view on the crimes of Assad’s regime: slow, uncertain justice | Editorial

The conviction of an intelligence official in Germany marks the end of impunity - but will more senior figures be held accountable?

Ten years on from the uprising against his brutal regime, Bashar al-Assad still reigns supreme, with his cronies around him, committing the same crimes. Hundreds of thousands have died. The cash extorted from the families of detainees is likely to be cushioning the impact of sanctions for the elite, a report recently suggested. The contrast between the enormity of the atrocities, and the absence of a route towards accountability for those at the top, could hardly be more glaring or painful.

Yet the demands of Syrians for justice are as deep and passionate as ever. This week, they bore their first fruit 1,800 miles from Damascus, as a court in Koblenz, Germany, found a former Syrian intelligence official guilty of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity. As small as this step may seem, it was a vital one: the first conviction for the regime's crimes.