Torture, executions, chemical attacks on civilians, ethnic cleansing, bombing of residential areas, using famine as a weapon of war… The litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad‘s regime appers to be endless. After decades of impunity, international investigators are now hoping to obtain direct access to evidence documenting 50 years of abuses.
The deposed dictator had maintained his father’s repressive and fear-inducing regime, where any form of dissent could lead to imprisonment. This unrelenting repression reached its peak in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Since 2011, the UN estimates that more than 300,000 civilians have lost their lives and at least 100,000 Syrians have been forcibly disappeared.
Read more‘Death camp’: the haunting history of Syria’s Sednaya prison
“The fall of Bashar Al-Assad represents an absolutely incredible opportunity,” said Aymeric Elluin, Amnesty International’s arms and conflict advocacy officer. “We need to have access to primary sources to build solid and irreproachable cases, in particular to the places where abuses were committed. However, the regime has blocked our access to Syrian territory since March 2011. Our work has therefore been carried out from a distance, using satellite images and the testimonies of prison survivors who have taken refuge abroad.”
Despite being denied access by Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, “we have been able to acquire a great deal of information thanks to Syrian civil society, which very early on collected testimonies and official documents”, said Chloé Pasmantier, a lawyer with the International Federation for Human Rights.
A mountain of evidence
The Syrian regime’s chillingly efficient bureaucracy, which kept meticulous records of its crimes, made this initial data gathering easier. The ‘César’ dossier, which was discovered in 2014 and named after the military photographer who documented the grisly evidence, brought to light the industrial-scale torture inflicted on imprisoned Syrian opponents. His defection made it possible to compile a report containing 55,000 photos of 11,000 detainees who were tortured and died between 2011 and 2013 in several detention centres.
Faced with this mountain of evidence, the UN set up the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) in December 2016. Based in Geneva, this “facilitator of justice” is responsible for centralising evidence and providing input for legal proceedings opened at the national level against Syrian officials in several European countries.
Read moreFall of Assad reveals the death of Mazen al-Hamada, symbol of the regime’s atrocities
For instance, three former high-ranking members of the regime were tried in absentia in France at the end of May and sentenced to life imprisonment. According to the French Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, which is also responsible for ruling on war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, 24 proceedings involving the Syrian regime and its auxiliaries are under way, reported French daily Le Monde.
In Germany, Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian intelligence official, was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity in January 2022. Raslan was found guilty of the death and torture of prisoners in a secret government detention centre in the capital Damascus between 2011 and 2012.
The French courts also issued an arrest warrant in November 2023 for Assad himself for the August 2013 chemical attack on Ghouta, near Damascus, which killed more than 1,400 people.
Fear of destruction
Despite the abundance of evidence already collected, the fall of the Syrian regime has opened up a new field of exploration for international investigators by giving them direct access to official buildings and Syrian prisons.
Syria is “the scene of the crime, so if we can have access to the scene of the crime, it changes the game for us”, Robert Petit, the Canadian prosecutor who has headed the IIIM since the beginning of 2024, told AFP.
“Especially as the regime collapsed very quickly, which no doubt prevented the perpetrators from destroying the evidence. This offers very positive prospects when it comes to searching for the truth,” said Johann Soufi, a lawyer specialised in international law.
The priority now is to preserve this evidence during the transition period. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria on Sunday called on rebel groups to “take great care not to disturb the evidence of violations and crimes” by seizing prisons.
“We must ensure that this evidence is not destroyed, not only by the rebels who have taken power but also by any other party or state. Israel carried out a large number of strikes on several military sites, including the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre, where the regime was developing chemical weapons. Crucial documents regarding the production and use of these weapons were probably destroyed in this bombing,” said Pasmantier.
Read morePreparing for potential ‘chaos’ in post-Assad Syria, Israel goes on the offensive
According to Pasmantier however, the Syrians have all the knowledge and experience needed to collect and preserve evidence for use in legal proceedings. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and the new strongman of Damascus, reaffirmed on Wednesday that the torturers would not be granted amnesty.
Ending the ‘cycle of violence’
It remains to be seen what will happen to those responsible for the crimes committed by the former Syrian regime. “One of the fundamental principles of international justice is that it is always up to national jurisdictions and the people to render justice to the victims,” said Soufi. “Then, a country can request additional expertise and set up, for example, a mixed tribunal like in Cambodia or Lebanon. But this depends on the agreement reached between the United Nations and the requesting state.”
On the other hand, the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not currently have jurisdiction in Syria, as it has not ratified the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established this court.
“Attempts by the United Nations Security Council to bring the case before the ICC failed because of Russian opposition. But now there is nothing to prevent Syria from ratifying the Rome Statute and submitting a request for retroactivity so that the ICC can take jurisdiction over the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Pasmantier.
Watch moreScramble for Syria? Foreign powers pounce amid post-Assad uncertainty
However, it is too early to know whether the future Syrian judiciary or the new masters of Damascus will be willing to work with international actors. “It must be stressed that the rebel groups have also committed human rights violations. From now on, the armed groups that have taken power must respect international law and help to ensure that justice can be done in Syria,” said Elluin.
The UN IIIM investigators have said that they are ready to intervene in Syria, even though for the moment no contact has been established with the new authorities.
That being said, the interim authorities have asked the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to remain in the country, which sends a “constructive” signal, the organisation said Friday.
The authorities have said that “they want us to stay in Syria, that they appreciate the work that we have been doing now for many years, that they need us to continue doing that work”, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, told reporters in Geneva by video link from Damascus. Llosa added that the interim authorities had also said “they will provide us with the necessary security to carry out those activities”.
According to the experts interviewed by FRANCE 24, the quest for truth and justice must be a central pillar of Syria’s future.
“Impunity fuels the feeling of injustice and reinforces the desire for revenge between communities, perpetuating a cycle of violence. The only way to put an end to this is to establish justice that respects human rights. It can serve as a deterrent, demonstrating that criminal acts can have legal repercussions, even decades later,” said Soufi.
“Documenting the facts also means seeking out a historical truth that might otherwise be disputed,” continued Soufi. “Lastly, fulfilling the needs of victims requires upholding their fundamental rights to truth, justice, and redress.”
This article has been adapted from the original in French by Mariamne Everett.
Leave a Comment