Syria – Assad to be convicted of war crimes
A
UN commission probing Syria rights abuses has gathered enough evidence to
convict President Bashar al-Assad of war crimes, an outgoing member of the
commission said in interviews published Sunday.
Veteran
former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who is preparing to step down
after five years serving in the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told Swiss
media the evidence against Assad was sufficient to secure a war crimes
conviction.
“I
am convinced of that,” she told Le Matin Dimanche and the Sonntagszeitung
weeklies, adding though that with no international court or prosecutor tasked
with trying the Syria war crimes cases, justice would remain elusive.
“That is why the situation is so frustrating.
The preparatory work has been done, but nevertheless, there is no prosecutor
and no court,” she told Sonntagszeitung.
“It’s
a tragedy.”
Del
Ponte, a 70-year-old Swiss national who came to prominence investigating war
crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, made the shock announcement earlier
this month that she would resign from the UN commission because it “does
absolutely nothing”.
She
lamented that “everyone in Syria is on the bad side. The Assad government has
perpetrated horrible crimes against humanity and used chemical weapons. And the
opposition is now made up of extremists and terrorists.”
In
Sunday’s interviews, she said she had handed in her resignation letter last
Thursday, and that she would officially step down on September 18, after the
commission presents its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council.
UN
chief Antonio Guterres appealed last week for the commission to continue its
work despite Del Ponte’s departure.
Resigning to provoke action
The
commission has been tasked with investigating human rights violations and war
crimes in Syria since shortly after the conflict erupted in March 2011 with
anti-government protests that have evolved into a complex proxy war.
The
continued violence has left more than 330,000 people dead and displaced
millions.
The
commission, which once Del Ponte leaves will count just two members, has
repeatedly urged the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the
International Criminal Court, in vain.
“I
do not want to be an alibi for an international community that is doing nothing
at all,” Del Ponte told Le Matin Dimanche, explaining her decision to leave the
UN commission.
“My
resignation is also meant as a provocation,” she said, adding that she hoped it
would “put pressure on the Security Council, which must deliver justice to the
victims.”
Del
Ponte however said that if an international judicial process is eventually
established for Syria, “I am ready to take on the position of international
prosecutor.”
She
stressed that international justice was vital for Syria, where the crimes
committed were “far worse” than what she had seen in the former Yugoslavia.
“Without
justice in Syria, there will never be peace and thus no future,” she said.
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