A list of 20 sample war crimes indictments of Syrian government
officials and rebels has placed President Bashar al-Assad in the top
spot, a former international war crimes prosecutor said on Tuesday.
“We have about 20 indictments of those who bear the greatest responsibility. This is a neutral effort. We’re not just going after Assad and his henchman, we are actually documenting all incidents on both sides,” David Crane, an ex-chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and now head of the Syria Accountability Project told Reuters news agency.
The International Criminal Court has been handed the list, citing for each incident a specific violation of the Rome statute under which a suspect could be charged.
“We rarely get this type of evidence, most of it is circumstantial,” Crane said of the 55,000 photographs of bodies, many with gouged-out eyes and bearing signs of starvation.
“Make no mistake about it, these photographs could not be faked. This takes responsibility for what happened up the ladder of responsibility. It is not an act of a maverick colonel or a mad major, this is government policy,” said Sir Desmond de Silva, co-author of an analysis of the “Caesar” photos and another former Sierra Leone chief prosecutor, told the panel.
A six-week offensive by ISIS against rival Islamists in eastern Syria has killed 600 fighters and driven 130,000 people from their homes, a London-based monitoring group said on Tuesday.
(With Reuters)
english.alarabiya.net
11/6/14
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“We have about 20 indictments of those who bear the greatest responsibility. This is a neutral effort. We’re not just going after Assad and his henchman, we are actually documenting all incidents on both sides,” David Crane, an ex-chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and now head of the Syria Accountability Project told Reuters news agency.
The International Criminal Court has been handed the list, citing for each incident a specific violation of the Rome statute under which a suspect could be charged.
- The list, which included members of Syria’s military and political elite plus Islamist rebel groups ISIS and al-Nusra Front, was compiled by Crane’s expert group.
- However, only Assad’s name was revealed by Crane.
“We rarely get this type of evidence, most of it is circumstantial,” Crane said of the 55,000 photographs of bodies, many with gouged-out eyes and bearing signs of starvation.
“Make no mistake about it, these photographs could not be faked. This takes responsibility for what happened up the ladder of responsibility. It is not an act of a maverick colonel or a mad major, this is government policy,” said Sir Desmond de Silva, co-author of an analysis of the “Caesar” photos and another former Sierra Leone chief prosecutor, told the panel.
A six-week offensive by ISIS against rival Islamists in eastern Syria has killed 600 fighters and driven 130,000 people from their homes, a London-based monitoring group said on Tuesday.
(With Reuters)
english.alarabiya.net
11/6/14
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Related:
Moscow alarmed by reports on chemical weapons use in Syria. Special responsibility was first of all with neighbouring on Syria countries. -- Sergei Lavrov
Alleged Chlorine Gas Attacks Focus Renewed Attention on Syria
Kerry says has seen "raw data" that suggests Syria used chlorine in gas attacks
France says Syria used chlorine in 14 recent attacks
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Claims Syrian government used chemical arms ‘fabricated’. - Russian Foreign Ministry
Turkey, US dismiss Seymour Hersh report. --White House statement confirmed the Syrian regime was behind the August 21 attack
EU urges 'strong response' to Syria attack. - Ministers point finger for alleged chemical weapons use at Assad's regime, but stop short of endorsing military action. (1+1 VIDEO)
Carla del Pontes Syrien-Besuch verschoben. -Im vergangenen Mai hatte Del Ponte nicht ausgeschlossen, dass chemische Waffen in Syrien von Oppositionellen eingesetzt wurden.
GENEVA ....A series of photographs exhibiting 11,000 detainees tortured in the hands of the Syrian regime has been discussed at a panel in Geneva held by the United Nations Human Rights Council.....
ReplyDeleteDuring the opening speech of the panel on Tuesday, Mehmet Ferden Carikci -- Turkey's permanent representative at UN's Geneva office -- said that tens of thousands of people including women and children were subject to torture in Syria's prisons
What the world encounters in Syria is a unique form of barbarism, Carikci said.
55,000 photographs exhibiting 11,000 tortured detainees were published on January 21 along with a detailed 31-page report titled “Syria war crimes evidence". The photos were provided by a former Syrian army police officer, known with the codename “Caesar”.
"Caesar", who served 13 years in the Syrian army, gave the photos of the tortured and executed detainees to an inquiry team based in the UK and the agency report accompanied by the photos shook the global agenda, making headlines in media around the world.
Desmond Lorenz de Silva, a member of the commission who prepared the "Caesar report," said at the panel that they verified the photographs' authenticity.
Another member of the commission, Prof. David Crane, said the evidences displayed undeniable war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He said the photos could be regarded as evidence in any court, adding that the Assad regime's acts constituted a systematic and large scale massacre.
Syria has been gripped in an ongoing civil war since 2011 in which more than 100,000 people have been killed and close to half of the 22-million population displaced, according to the UN.
www.aa.com.tr/en
11/6/14