Seeking justice for the civilian victims of the Syrian civil war

Crime and justice

Aida Samani Civil Rights Defenders

ROME, April 23, 2024 (IPS) – When the Syrian army launched its offensive against the rebel FSA (Free Syrian Army) stronghold in Homs in February 2012, the safety of civilians was not a factor.

Armed forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad systematically used heavy artillery in the Baba Amr neighborhood, where the FSA had established a military council, while besieging the area with tanks, helicopters and thousands of ground troops.

Many civilians were killed during the month-long campaign and most of the buildings in the area were rubble by the time the Syrian army captured it on March 2, 2012.

That did not mean the end of the violence.

Subsequently, a number of extrajudicial killings were carried out by government security forces and ‘shabbiha’ militias loyal to Assad.

The Syrian army’s attacks then followed the same pattern elsewhere.

The city of Ar-Rastan, located between Hama and Homs, and towns in the Al-Houla region, about 30 kilometers northwest of Homs, faced similar tactics in the spring of 2012, with sieges, indiscriminate shelling and extrajudicial killings in viola of international humanitarian law.

The Syrian army officials involved in the atrocities, which killed or injured thousands of civilians, had reason to believe that their actions would never face any consequences.

Until now.

This month, the trial of a brigadier general who headed the armament unit of the 11th Division of the Syrian Army’s 3rd Corps in Homs and Hama began in the Stockholm court for his role in the attacks between January and July 2012.

He is accused of complicity in war crimes and the trial is the first in Europe involving indiscriminate attacks on civilians in the context of the Syrian army’s warfare.

“As such, it is the first time that the victims of such attacks can have their voices heard in an independent court and have the opportunity to seek redress,” Aida Samani, senior legal advisor at the human rights organization Civil Rights Defenders, told IPS.

“A guilty verdict would send yet another signal to states seeking to normalize relations with Syria that the state they are approaching is one that is systematically and deliberately harming its own citizens.”

The suspect served in the Syrian army until July 2012, after which he defected.

“The defendant moved to Sweden in 2015 and we have seen nothing to indicate that he has left the country,” Samani said.

“In 2018, the Swedish Migration Agency reported him to the Swedish Police War Crimes Unit, claiming, based on information provided by the suspect himself, that he had been a senior officer within the Syrian army at a time when the army committed war crimes.”

She explained that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could not hear the case because Syria has not ratified the Statute of the ICC and the attempts made in the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the Court by Russia vetoed and China.

“This means that the only avenue for victims currently to seek redress is through the courts of countries, such as Sweden, which have legislation that allows authorities to prosecute and convict people for war crimes committed abroad,” he said. Samani.

There are currently eight plaintiffs in the case, some of whom were injured or lost close family members in the attacks, while others had their homes destroyed.

The Public Prosecution Service has called fifteen witnesses, including eyewitnesses who can speak about the events in question; insiders, mainly defectors, who can testify about the 11th Division’s involvement in the attacks; and experts who can explain the military structure of the army and what the responsibilities of the Brigadier General would have been.

Samani said the case could also set a precedent that could then be used in relation to what is happening in other hotspots of conflict, such as Ukraine and Gaza.

“Similar cases involving indiscriminate attacks committed in countries other than Syria could appear before national courts across Europe,” she said.

“This presupposes that there is sufficient evidence in the case and that the procedural requirements for authorities to investigate, prosecute and convict suspected perpetrators have been met.”