LONDON

A former colonel in the Assad regime appeared Tuesday in a UK court to face charges, including crimes against humanity, in a first of its kind case.

Salem Michel Al-Salem appeared at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink, after he was charged Monday with seven offences, including three for murder as a crime against humanity, three for torture, and one for conduct ancillary to murder.

“It is alleged that in his role as a colonel in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence (AFI), Al-Salem led a group tasked with quelling demonstrations in the suburbs of Damascus," the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.

It is the first time the CPS has brought murder charges as crimes against humanity under the International Criminal Court Act 2001.

"Our prosecutors have concluded that there is sufficient evidence to bring seven offences under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988," Bethan David, head of the CPS' Counter Terrorism Division, said in the statement.