UN steps up war crimes prosecutions in Syria

On December 12, the United Nations (UN) compiled a list of 4,000 perpetrators of serious crimes in Syria.

Syria's new ruling party has pledged to bring justice to victims of war crimes. (Source: AP)

“The most important thing is that the highest-level perpetrators are brought to justice,” Linnea Arvidsson, coordinator of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI), told reporters in an interview.

The COI has been collecting evidence of crimes in Syria since the early days of the civil war in 2011 and compiling lists of alleged suspects. “We have around 4,000 names on these lists so far,” Ms Arvidsson added. The COI has been involved in 170 criminal investigations and has so far brought 50 convictions for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.

In the past, Syria has not granted COI access to the country, but with the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Arvidsson hopes her unit will be able to access relevant cases in the future. So far, COI has conducted its investigations remotely, through thousands of interviews, document research and other evidence.

Earlier, President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria amid a lightning offensive by rebel forces, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies.

Syria's new ruling party has pledged to bring justice to victims, declaring that officials involved in torturing detainees will not be granted amnesty and calling on countries to "hand over any fugitives so they can be brought to justice".

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/lien-hop-quoc-day-manh-truy-to-toi-ac-chien-tranh-tai-syria-297234.html