UN investigators ‘preparing to deploy’ to probe Assad war crimes in Syria

UN investigators say Syria’s new authorities are “very receptive” to their request to probe possible war crimes that may have occurred during the Bashar al Assad regime.

The team from the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, led by Robert Petit, recently visited Damascus to meet the new authorities and is preparing to deploy.

The fall of Assad has presented a huge opportunity to investigate possible serious crimes in Syria, but there is an urgency to preserve documents and other evidence before they are lost.

Since rebels took the capital and threw open notorious prisons and detention facilities, there have been rising demands to prosecute those responsible for atrocities and killings while he was in power.

“The fall of the Assad rule is a significant opportunity for us to fulfil our mandate on the ground,” Mr Petit said. “Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the material they hold.”

A spokesperson from his team said they are preparing for deployment “on the expectation we will get authorisation” from the interim government in Syria.

“The representatives from the caretaker authorities were very receptive to our request for cooperation and are aware of the scale of the task ahead,” they added. “They emphasised that they will need expertise to help safeguard the newly accessible documentation.”

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The investigation team met with government officials – it was not disclosed who – during its visit to the Syrian capital and visited an unspecified site afterward.

“Even at one facility,” Mr Petit said, “the mountains of government documentation reveal the chilling efficiency of systemising the regime’s atrocity crimes.”