Syrian Regime
investigation | cases supPorted | assistance to justice actors | analysis and case building | Public Reports | capacity building
CIJA arose from a critical need to secure evidence establishing individual criminal responsibility for violations of international criminal law in Syria, given that no international or domestic justice actor was willing or able to do so. Active since the early days of the Syrian conflict, CIJA’s investigation has obtained voluminous evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by the Syrian Regime in its brutal suppression of dissent.
investigation
CIJA investigators and data clerks have collected and preserved over 1,000,000 internal documents generated by the Syrian regime, including security, intelligence and military documentation that clearly establishes the organised nature of the crimes and the identities of scores of key perpetrators. CIJA has interviewed more than 1,650 witnesses, mostly regime defectors and victims in Syria and neighbouring countries.
“It is the biggest and most incriminating cache of documents ever collected from a war still in progress.”
The Times, 23 September 2018
cases that cija has supported
CIJA’s ongoing cooperation with domestic law enforcement agencies has begun to bear fruit. This includes:
Colvin v. Syrian Arab Republic: Evidence amassed by CIJA formed a critical component of the first case filed against the state of Syria in a U.S. District Court, involving the targeted killing of American journalist Marie Colvin in 2012.
Anwar Ruslan, convicted of 52 counts of crimes against humanity: With CIJA investigative, evidentiary and analytical support, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany convicted the Head of Investigations at Branch 251 of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, in January 2022. Found guilty of crimes against humanity of torture, murder, assault and several counts of rape and sexual assault, CIJA provided 600 documents linked to Branch 251 – including General Intelligence directives and interrogation reports, some bearing Ruslan’s signature – and 13 interviews with former Branch employees. The Commission’s Director of Operations and Investigations testified as an expert witness before the court, providing analysis of the Syrian Regimes security-intelligence apparatus and use of torture in detention. Ruslan is the highest-ranking Syrian regime official to be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction worldwide to be held accountable for his crimes.
Mustafa A., convicted for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity: On 22 January 2024, The Hague District Court in the Netherlands convicted Mustafa A., for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity of torture, inhumane treatment and illegal deprivation of liberty and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment. This judgment marks the first conviction of a pro-Assad militia member for their role in perpetrating international crimes against civilians on behalf of the Regime, in this instance within the Al Nayrab Camp, near Aleppo, in 2012 or 2013. Notably, the judgement (google translate) remarks that:
“the suspect was a leader within Liwa al-Quds, a militia that was a loyal ally of the Syrian regime. Officials of Syria's infamous Air Force Intelligence Service (LID) maintained close ties with Liwa al-Quds, which arrested (alleged) opponents for the LID.”
The Hague District Court, Mustafa A. Judgment
CIJA actively supported Dutch authorities during their investigation into Mustafa A., locating, tracking and sharing a suspect tracking dossier with Dutch authorities in 2021, responding to three requests for assistance shortly thereafter with the transmission of 15 witness interviews, 5 redacted interviews and the sharing of 8 witness contacts.
Eyad Al. Gharib, convicted of 30 counts of crimes against humanity upheld on appeal: With assistance from CIJA’s documentary evidence, witness and expert testimony, Al. Gharib was convicted of 30 counts of crimes against humanity by the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany, in February 2021. The former Syrian secret service agent, from Subdivision 40 of Branch 251 of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate originally stood trial with Anwar R before his case was separated shortly before the judgment. In May of 2022, Al. Gharib’s conviction was upheld on appeal by the Bundesgerichtshof which confirmed the conviction and his criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity in the early months of the 2011 uprisings.
“The Senate [judicial chamber] attaches particular importance to the CCMC documents of April 2011 made available to it through the CIJA via the Federal Criminal Police Office.”
Higher Regional Court, Koblenz, Eyad A. Judgment
Alaa M., on trial for crimes against humanity: On 19 January 2022, the trial against Alaa M, a former medical professional for the Syrian Military Intelligence began in Frankfurt, Germany, where he stands charged for his role in crimes against humanity committed in Military Hospital 608 in Homs, Syria. CIJA has supported the case since 2019 with documentary, victim and insider witness evidence. Drawing on its extensive investigative and analytical resources concerning conflict-related sexual violence, CIJA played a key role in the successful inclusion of sexual offences to the list of charges against Alaa M.. CIJA continued to assist German authorities during the pre-trial preparation, responding to five requests for assistance.
assistance to justice actors
Many national jurisdictions are investigating the crimes under the principle of ‘universal jurisdiction’ and to date, CIJA has provided evidence, analytical support, and briefings to the law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities of 13 States conducting numerous criminal investigations into former regime officials.
CIJA also closely cooperates with international bodies such as the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria (IIIM), who has received a copy of CIJA’s Syrian regime evidence archive.
analysis and case building
The determination of CIJA’s investigators enabled experienced analysts and lawyers to complete case briefs and reports implicating dozens of high-ranking suspects from senior leadership, security agencies, ministry of interior, military and security committees, joint investigation committees, governorate-level security branches and general command of the army and armed forces. These cases relate to crimes in detention facilities and against civilians in the course of the conduct of hostilities, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
CIJA has also developed at least 8 pro-active suspect dossiers of former Syrian regime members currently suspected to reside in or be transiting in European jurisdictions, and submitted them to relevant law enforcement agencies, leading to the initiation of investigations in several instances.
PUBLIC REPORTS
Behind the Curtain: Unravelling the Bureaucracy of Syria’s Machinery of Death, December 2023
Torture. Mass arrests. Murders. Enforced disappearance. The Syrian Regime’s justified its use of force against civilians including many children, as a means to protect national security from what they characterised as “armed terrorist groups.” But the Regime’s own documents paint a different picture. This report reveals how the Regime formulated and then implemented policies to forcefully suppress opposition activity from early 2011. Through their own documents, it portrays a narrative of unhinged power, an intricate web of orders, instructions, circulars, reports and studies that flowed through the chains of command laying bare the extreme measures to which the Regime would resort to maintain its iron grip on the nation.
READ THE REPORT: ONLINE | DOWNLOAD |متصل | تحميل
The Strangulation of Homs, September 2023
This is the story of the Syrian Regime’s strangulation of Homs, a city that gave birth to the revolution and to many of its fallen heroes, including CIJA’s deputy chief of investigations Mustafa. Told through a small selection of the Regime’s own documents, secured by CIJA’s investigators, this report reveals the premeditated manner in which the Syrian Regime quashed the Homsis’ hopes of democracy, from the first days of protest through to the siege of Baba Amro.
Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked, July 2023
For years, the crimes committed by the Shabbiha were ascribed to shadowy paramilitary gangs whose affiliation to official Syrian Regime structures could not be ascertained. But CIJA evidence shows a clear linkage between these militia groups and the Regime’s chain of command, demonstrating the state’s incremental reliance on these brutal gangs to enforce the governments’ crackdown on peaceful protesters and later, to attack the civilian population.
capacity building of syrian investigators
Since 2012, CIJA’s investigators have benefited from extensive capacity-building efforts through an ongoing training and mentoring programme led by multi-disciplinary international experts. Over 55 men and women have been working within Syria since the early stages of the conflict gathering evidence and conducting interviews, and as a result of their continued learning and experience, they are capable of leading investigations on the ground, further empowering them to play a key role in current and future justice initiatives in the region.