Syrian regime officers forcing detainees’ families to pay bribes to speed up release of their children

DARAMSUQ — Several days ago, head of the Syrian regime Bashar al-Assad issued a decree granting amnesty to individuals involved in “terrorist crimes” committed before 30 April 2022, except for crimes which led to the death of any civilians.

Corruption appeared within the scheme almost immediately.

The Damascus Voice revealed that the Syrian regime’s intelligence officers and officials of the judicial committees tampered with the list of detainees covered by the amnesty decree and have been blackmailing families of detainees.

According to families and relatives of released detainees, they were contacted by Syrian regime’s officers soliciting bribes in exchange for expediting their children’s release.

The amount of money depended on the charges and length of detention, according to the families.

Damascus Voice stated that some members of the judicial committees and judicial police officials were “charging” 100,000 Syrian Pounds to expedite release.