Prosecutors believe they have enough smuggled documents for war crimes trial against senior Syrian officials if ever the conflict reaches an international court.
A three-year covert investigation inside Syria has collected enough evidence to support criminal charges against Bashar al-Assad and many of his top officials, according to a report in The Guardian.
The cases cover the Syrian regime’s brutal response to the protests that led to civil war in 2011.
The evidence against 24 senior officials has been collected for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) which is building prosecutions for any war crimes tribunal established in the future.
At present, Mr Assad and his government are protected from prosecution at the International Criminal Court by Russian and Chinese veto power at the United Nations.
Boy injured after a Syrian barrel bomb hit a school in Aleppo earlier this month (Reuters)
The commission is working with a team of 50 Syrian investigators – including members of the armed opposition – who have smuggled regime documents out of the country. One has been killed and others detained by regime forces.
The chief investigator, Adel (a pseudonym), told The Guardian: “The work has caused a lot of stress in my family.
“There are long absences and constant fear. But I still believe in the cause of justice. I hope one day to see a court that would try the senior leadership and hold it accountable for the crimes committed.”
The Syrian regime is accused of using poison gas and indiscriminate bombing as it clings to power.
Assad regime forces launch attack opposition fighters seize Latakia’s Kasab town (Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The commission is working on three cases.
The first against the Central Crisis Management Cell – set up to quell the protests – names Assad, Assad, Mohammad al-Shaar, the minister of the interior, and Mohammed Said Bekheitan, an assistant secretary of the Ba’ath party.
The two others focus on the National Security Bureau and the Security Committee of Deir al-Zor province.
The CIJA is headed by William Wiley, a former Canadian Soldier who advised the defence in the trial of Saddam Hussein. It comprises lawyers and former military officers who have worked in international courts, such as
It is funded by a handful of European governments, including the UK.
While previous inquiries have accused the Syrian regime of war crimes –such as a UN commission in 2013 – Mr Wiley said the CIJA was building a forensic case, ready for court.
In previous conflicts, prosecutors have struggled to turn anecdotal reports into watertight prosecution cases.
“The UN commission is not concerned with individual criminal responsibility, so it is not preparing dossiers for prosecution. That’s not their fault, it’s just not their mandate,” Mr Wiley told The Guardian. “They have a broader brush, including social, minority and women’s rights. We are focused on international criminal humanitarian law and individual criminal responsibility.”
Source: The Telegraph
