From the beginning of the protest against the Assad regime, in March 2011, gangs in the pay of power appeared to break this movement. Called “shabiha”, these henchmen had already helped the Assad clan to consolidate its power during the 1970s. As Syria descended into civil war, all kinds of regime supporters joined this shadow army, supporting the security forces in their dirty work.
Their involvement in crimes against humanity, including murder and torture, and war crimes, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, sexual violence and looting, was established as early as 2012 by a United Nations commission of inquiry. UN investigators believed that the chabiha had probably acted “with the acquiescence, in concert with or at the request of government forces”. Their link with the security hierarchy could not be established at the time, offering Mr. Assad a convenient justification to reject any responsibility for their actions.
But in a report published on July 5, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), an NGO composed of international criminal lawyers, provides this missing link. His work, based on official documents, reveals how the highest echelons of the Syrian regime planned and implemented the deployment of these militiamen.
Documents used in lawsuits
CIJA investigators had access to more than a million pages of documents from the Syrian state apparatus that were recovered from government or military buildings in the territories that fell to the rebels. A tiny fraction of these documents are included in the report, which focuses on the beginning of the Syrian uprising. They do not contain direct written orders to commit atrocities, but they detail the progressive structuring by the Syrian authorities of these paramilitary forces.
“These documents, written by the regime’s own pen, are proof that it has relied on these groups from day one to quell protests and crush rebels, commented Nerma Jelacic, one of CIJA’s directors. These militiamen are not lost sheep out of control. They implemented the goals of the regime. » Documents collected by the CIJA have already been used in trials opened against Syrian regime officials, in the name of the principle of universal jurisdiction, in Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.
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