BERLIN (AP) — Four asylum-seekers have gone on trial in Germany accused of executing 36 members of the Syrian security forces while they were members of the Nusra Front extremist group.

Prosecutors say the four men killed their victims — police officers, security officials and soldiers — at a garbage site in the Syrian city of Tabqa in March 2013.

The defendants appeared before Stuttgart's regional court Monday on charges of war crimes, murder and membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

The men, who came to Germany as refugees, were identified as 28-year-old Abdul Jawad A. K.; 24-year-old Abdoulfatah A.; 26-year-old Abdulrahman A. A.; and 35-year-old Abdalfatah H. A.

Their surnames weren't released because of German privacy rules.