Fleeing accountability, Assad swaps out war criminals

ANKARA, 09 July 2019 [Fik/News Sources]: Attempting to evade accountability, the regime of Bashar al-Assad has dismissed Syrian security intelligence chiefs accused of war crimes and replaced them with “clean figures,” according to local sources.

The officials of the regime, known as perpetrators of war crimes including the use of chemical weapons and human rights violations such as detention, torture, and forced disappearances, have been dismissed, local sources told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

“With these changes, the regime is trying to get free from international judicial authorities,” Gulden Sonmez, a Turkish lawyer dealing with Syria at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, told Anadolu Agency.

“However, such attempts will not save military or political offenders from trials,” she added.

Sonmez said some of the chiefs recently dismissed include war criminals that they presented to the ICC, adding that there are 17 high-level regime members in the case.

She stressed that she and her collogues represent nearly 2,000 Syrians, 1,183 of them represented at the ICC.

“Victims include injured children, women who were raped and tortured, and disabled and injury victims,” she added.

Military opposition sources said the change took place with the approval of Russia and Iran.

Syria has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected brutality.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN figures.