Syria In Transition: Issue 9. Features CIJA’s evidence-based report "Behind the Curtain: Unravelling the bureaucracy of Syria's machinery of death" to reconstruct the chain of command at the time and place of major atrocities, concluding that “CIJA’s painstaking work reveals Assad as the pinnacle of all chains of command"

VRT: reporting on information from the public prosecutor’s office regarding the arrest of Hossin A., a former Syrian paramilitary leader, for charges of serious violations of international humanitarian law for crimes committed during the Syrian civil war, in Salamiyah, Hama.

On 22 January 2024, the District Court of the Hague convicted Mustafa A., a senior member of pro-Assad militia Liwa Al-Quds, for complicity in crimes against humanity & war crimes of torture, inhuman treatment and illegal arrest in the Al Nayrab Refugee Camp in Aleppo, marking the first conviction of pro-Assad militias for civilian atrocities.

Suspected ISIS member, Mustafa M was indicted in Koblenz, Germany for alleged War Crimes including killing and hostage taking. The Commission for International Justice and Accountability located Mustafa M., who is a Syrian national, within Germany in 2020, developing and pro-actively submitting a suspect dossier to national authorities.

Levant 24: "The CIJA has meticulously documented the systemic nature of the Assad regime’s human rights violations and illegal policies in a comprehensive report outlining the regime’s “machinery of death.”

CIJA Director of External Relations, Nerma Jelacic describes the Syrian Regime’s command and control structures and how they were mobilized with brutal and deadly force to repress protests…

 https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/18/we-know-who-created-syrias-torture-programme-and-how

Today CIJA releases its latest evidence-based report, detailing how the Syrian Regime’s command and control mechanisms orchestrated a matrix of mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and murders.

هذه قصة خنق النظام السوري لحمص، المدينة التي وُلدت من رحمها الثورة و التي أعطت كوكبة من الأبطال الذين بذلوا ارواحهم، و من بينهم مصطفى نائب قائد فريق التحقيقات بسيجا.

Homs was at the heart of the Syrian revolution, serving as an example and inspiration to Syrians across the country. People from different walks of life, ethnicities and religious groups came together to call for the fall of the Assad Regime.

[The New Yorker] “When Mustafa died, in the earthquakes in Turkey, his work in Syria had assisted in the prosecutions of numerous figures in Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”

Exclusive CNN report by Mick Krever and Jomana Karadsheh on CCTV footage collected and analysed by CIJA

Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha”

Includes a summary of CIJA’s report on Syrian Regime paramilitaries “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” alongside updates of the International Court of Justice torture case

“Ces documents, écrits de la plume même du régime, sont la prevue qu’il s’est appuyé sur ses groups dès la premier jour réprimer les manifestations et écraser les rebelles”

“A new report, by the war crimes investigators of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, documents how the highest levels of Syria’s Assad regime “

Documents secured by CIJA and produced by various Syrian State entities demonstrate the Regime’s incremental reliance on brutal paramilitary gangs to enforce the governments’ crackdown on peaceful protesters and later, to attack the civilian population.

Reuters correspondents Stephanie van den Berg and Maya Gebeily’s exclusive review of CIJA’s report “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” which includes seven documents created by the Syrian Regime

The Reuters Special Report on the Myanmar military’s planning of its deadly purge of the Rohingya won the investigative feature writing category of the Human Rights Press Awards, drawing on CIJA’s four-year long investigation into crimes against Myanmar's minorities by the Burmese Armed Forces.

CNN’s Turkey Correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh Scott pays tribute to CIJA’s Deputy Head of Investigations in Syria, who, along with his wife and four children perished in the earthquake on 06 February 2022.

It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our Deputy Chief of the Syria Investigations Unit, Mustafa, and his family. Mustafa, his wife Rola, their beautiful children Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar all perished in the devastating earthquake that struck North-Western Syria and Turkey on 06 February 2023.

In his contribution to the Symposium, CIJA’s Director of Investigations and Operations Chris Engels provides a clear-sighted summary of the experiences and challenges of gathering and authenticating evidence in combat zones.

CIJA’s Commissioner Ambassador Rapp and Fritz Streiff discuss the need for CIJA’s battlefield investigation in Syria and its importance in securing justice in the Syria Trials Podcast (S1:E10) on Innovations in international criminal justice for Syria.

On 17 November 2022, Nerma Jelacic spoke at Roadmap to a Safe Environment in Syria, convened by the Syrian Association for Citizens Dignity, the Free Syrian Lawyers Association and the European Institute of Peace, in Geneva

On 19 September, CIJA’s Director of Investigations and Operations participated in the Atlantic Council’s panel “Protection of Victims and Witnesses in Atrocity Trials” held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

CIJA’s 2020-2021 Annual Report showcases the organisation’s remarkable progress and achievements in furthering criminal justice efforts for core international crimes.